Alert constable helps crack five-month-old murder case

A visit to a local mechanic by a constable, to repair his motorcycle, helped the Crime Branch (CB) solve a five-month-old murder case reported from Ulhasnagar. While chatting with the constable, the mechanic narrated an incident about how he was once taken to the nearby forest area to fix a local's car, who was on his way home from Titwala. The mechanic even mentioned that the car owner and his friend had chicken bloodstains on their clothes.

Cruel intention: Sunny (chequered shirt) and Dilip (grey t-shirt) beheaded Rani Sukheja (above) and dumped her body in the nearby forest area. Pics/ Navneet Barhate

The alert constable quickly corroborated the mechanic's narration with a murder case, wherein a housewife's decapitated body was recovered from the same area, thus helping the CB officials solve the murder mystery.

Sinister plot
According to the police officials, Kishore Sukheja's wife Rani was allegedly having an affair with her husband's long-time friend Dilip Zaamatmal Meghani. While the Sukhejas were residents of Lassi Bhuvan opposite Hindustan Saree Centre in Camp II, Meghani lived at Lahori Palace in Camp I. On December 4, Rani and Dilip had a heated argument. "Later, under the pretext of ending their quarrel, Dilip took Rani to Khadavali. On their way, Dilip picked up his friend Sunny Radheshyam Madnani (28), a history-sheeter," said Machindra Chavan, senior police inspector of Ulhasnagar Crime Branch.

After reaching an isolated spot, the duo asked Rani to step out of the car for a walk. They then overpowered Rani and beheaded her, using a chopper. They later dumped her body in the forest. On their way home, Dilip's car developed a technical snag. Despite repeated attempts, they were unable to fix the glitch.

Bloodstains
"They then called Sunil Khatave, one of their friends, and asked him to bring along a mechanic to the spot. The mechanic, who fixed their car, noticed blood on the duo's clothes. When he inquired about it, they told him that the bloodstains were of a chicken," said Chavan.

Unable to trace his wife's whereabouts, Kishore registered a missing person complaint with the Ulhasnagar police on December 5. Meanwhile, the CB officials had initiated a parallel probe in the case and had zeroed down on Kishore's friends as their prime suspects. "It was Dilip who informed us about his affair with the deceased. Both the accused are neighbours. We also recovered gold bangles, that were reported missing, worth Rs 2.5 lakh from Dilip," said Chavan. u00a0