06 December,2013 06:24 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Cops arrested a 35-year-old man yesterday for allegedly killing his girlfriend. During interrogation, he told the cops that he had planned the crime after watching crime shows like Crime Patrol. On November 28, the body of Sarla Ahire, a 27-year-old woman who was employed at a jewellery-manufacturing firm, was found inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli (East) near Trimurti village. Her mobile phone had been missing and police couldn't find any clues at the crime scene. But the cops yesterday arrested her boyfriend, 35-year-old Praveen Pandurang Talatkar.
How she was killed
According to the police, Talatkar stays in the same area as Ahire Teen Dongri in Goregaon (West). He knew Ahire's mother and sister very well and had visited their home several times. The couple had been in a relationship for two years. Late on the night of November 26, a day before the murder, Talatkar called Ahire and proposed to have lunch the next day. On November 27, after lunch in Malad, they went to SGNP through the rear gate.
There, on the pretext of going to the toilet, Talatkar filled a syringe with a narcotic substance. As the woman had not been feeling well, Talatkar offered it as medicine, which she took. In her drugged state, Talatkar slit her throat and also took her bag along with him.
Post-murder
To ensure that the cops could not trace his location on the day of the murder, Talatkar had left his phone at home. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone XI) Pravin Patil, after killing her, the accused went to Ahire's home and even accompanied her family members to Kasturba Marg police station to lodge a âmissing' complaint.
MiD DAY's report earlier mentioned that Ahire had informed her mother during the day that she was fine (âWoman found dead inside national park', November 29). These messages had been sent by Talatkar from the victim's phone which he had with him. However, not picking up a single phone call on that day aroused the suspicion of the investigators, following which he was arrested.
The giveaway
"We collected the call details records (CDR) of many people who were in touch with her before she went missing. Everyone had given satisfactory answers," Patil said, adding, "When we checked Pravin's CDR, we came to know that he was the last person who had spoken to her. When we interrogated him, he confessed to having killed Ahire because she had been insisting on getting married to him and demanding gifts."
Patil further added that the accused had been planning the murder for the last two months and was inspired by crime shows such as Crime Patrol. He was produced before the court and sent to police custody. u00a0