Palghar triple murder: Absconding tenant arrested from UP

Police have arrested the absconding tenant wanted in the killing of an elderly couple and their speciallyabled daughter at a village in Palgharrsquos Wada taluka The investigating team got a crucial lead when a police sniffer dog detected the murder weapon a hammer in the backyard of the house where the three bodies were left to rotAdditionally the crucial forensic details from JJ hospital revealed the three victims had severe skull fractures from blunt force trauma Combined with circumstantial evidence these findings pointed to the prime suspect Arif Ali Ansari 30 a tenant originally from Prayagraj Uttar PradeshThe prime suspect Arif Ali Ansari in police custody PicsHanif PatelThe Special Task Force STF of Palghar police arrested Ansari for the murders of Mukund Rathod 72 his wife Kanchan 70 and their daughter Sangita 52 at Neharoli village on August 17 Ansari who earned only a modest income from carpentry work in the area had been planning a visit to his hometown of Prayagraj but lacked the necessary funds for the tripAnsari intended to rob his landlordrsquos house hoping to steal valuables and cash ldquoBut the Rathod family had little in the way of cash or valuables at home There were only six silver coins at the house which Ansari stole and later sold for R2100 in his hometownrdquo Superintendent of Palghar police Balasaheb Patil told middayHow they were killedThe police said the family had not conducted any police verification of Ansari before renting the property to him around six to seven months ago so he thought he would get away with murder as there was no record of him ldquoOn August 17 under the pretext of borrowing a hammer for carpentry work Ansari visited his landlordrsquos house At that time Mukund was not at home so he borrowed the hammer from Sangita When he went to return it he struck Sangita on her head as she opened the door Hearing the commotion Kanchan who was asleep rushed to protect her But Ansari struck her as well killing both on the spotrdquo said an officerThe house in Neharoli village where the bodies were foundAnsari planned to drag their bloodsoaked bodies to a place outside to dispose of them but heard the sound of Mukundrsquos scooterrsquos engine ldquoHe hid behind the door and when Mukund entered the house he struck him on the head using the same hammerrdquo said the officer Ansari then shut the main door and began to conceal the bodies and clean the crime sceneAccording to the police Ansari has confessed to the crime ldquoHe told us that after killing Mukund he dragged his body near the bathroom wrapped it in bed sheets and covered it with a mattress He then emptied a large trunk lifted the bodies of Kanchan and her daughter and placed them inside He also stuffed it with clothes before shutting it Later he cleaned the bloodstained floor of the houserdquo an officer said adding that Ansari searched the house for cash and valuables but only managed to locate the six silver coins which he decamped with after taking a bath at the houseldquoOur investigation is at a nascent stage and we are yet to conclude if his wife was involved in the crimerdquo said Dattatraya Kindre officer in charge Wada police station The police said that Ansari his wife and children spent the night of August 17 at his friendrsquos house in Wada and they left for Prayagraj the next morning ldquo This has been captured in CCTV footagerdquo Kindre told middayHow he was arrestedldquoOn reaching Prayagraj Ansari left his wife at the village and switched off his cell phone He changed the SIM card in his handset and would switch on his phone only at nightrdquo said an officer from the cyber cell of Palghar police ldquoOur STF team nabbed him on Wednesday with the help of local police in Uttar Pradesh He was brought to Palghar on Thursday and will be produced in court on Friday to seek his police custodyrdquo said SP PatilThe maggotinfested bodies were discovered on August 30 by Rathod brothers Suhas and Pankaj ldquoAnsari must get the death penalty as he has orphaned us If he needed money he should have asked mehellip This monster deserves capital punishmentrdquo said Pankaj who lives in Virar with his family Suhas lives in Rajkot Gujarat with his family