Thane man who killed wife, kids held in Haryana

Amit Bagdi surrounded by the investigating team from the Thane Crime Branch’s Unit V, after he was arrested from the Hisar district in Haryana and brought to Thane on Saturday morning

Two days after he allegedly bludgeoned his own wife and two children to death, Thane resident Amit Bagdi was on Saturday traced to Haryana and arrested by the Thane Police Crime Branch. The gruesome murder came to light after Vikas Bagdi, Amit's brother, returned home from work around 11 am on Thursday and found his sister-in-law Bhavna, 24, and her two children Ankush,8, and Khushi,6, brutally beaten to death using Ankush's cricket bat. Due to marital discord, Bhavna and the children were staying with Vikas, and Amit had come visiting three days earlier.

Amit Bagdi

While the Kasarwadavli police had registered an FIR against Amit, the Crime Branch Unit V, too, was conducting parallel inquiries into the case. Crime Branch officials said that as Amit did not possess a mobile phone, they turned to Closed Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) footage for clues.

"Using CCTV footage, we were able to establish that after committing the crime, Bagdi got on a train and went to Ulwe in Navi Mumbai, and then to Kharkopar. Here, he bought new clothes and footwear before proceeding to various locations like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Kurla, Dadar and finally Bandra, from where he caught a train to Hisar in Haryana. We tracked his movements through footage from nearly 1,000 CCTV cameras," said a Thane Crime Branch officer.

Bhavna Bagdi, Ankush and Khushi

Bagdi was picked up from Hisar, where his grandmother lives, and brought to Mumbai early on Saturday morning. He was subsequently handed over to the Kasarwadavli police for further inquiries. Sources told mid-day that Bagdi confessed to the triple murder after being arrested.

"Bhai bach gaya, baap ko bhi maarna tha (My brother got away, I wanted to kill my father too)," Bagdi is alleged to have told his interrogators. Officers said that the murder was pre-planned and that he was furious at his wife for leaving him. Bhavna had started staying with Vikas as she was fed up of Amit's alcoholism.

"Amit killed his wife and children but could not kill Vikas, as the latter leaves early in the morning for his job. Vikas works in the housekeeping industry and leaves from home at 7 a.m.," an officer said.

He added that Amit showed extreme remorse after his arrest, and is under close watch, lest his take any extreme step. The police will be interrogating him to establish the exact sequence of events, so that corroborative evidence may be obtained. He has been charged under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.