Mumbai Crime: After murder, accused pour salt on body to hide smell

The deceased, Raju Chaupal; (right) the heritage building at Fort where he was murdered in May. Pic/Suresh Karkera

In a brutal murder, a man was killed and his body dumped in the empty water tank of a building, after the four accused covered it with 25 kg salt, so that it wouldn't smell. The police arrested three of them on Monday, after bringing them back from Bihar, where they hailed from the same village as the victim. The fourth person who was arrested, is from Karnataka.

The police said Raju Chaupal, 23, was allegedly in a relationship with the main accused's wife. He was killed on May 13 and his body found on Sunday.

According to Unit 5 of the Mumbai Crime Branch, Chaupal's father who works in Oshiwara, approached local police after Chaupal, who had arrived in Mumbai on the midnight of May 13, did not go home.

After thorough investigation, the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested the accused - identified as Surrender Manda, 40, the main accused, and Shambhu and Ramkumar Saday, who are brothers. Vijay Shirse, 52, is from Karnataka. They all worked at the construction site - a heritage building at Fort - where they allegedly murdered the victim.

Planned murder

Mandal and the others stayed at the construction site due to the Covid-19 restrictions. He couldn't go home and kept hearing about his wife ‘s illicit relationship. "The trigger was the Panchayat calling Chaupal and warning him to stay away from her. Then the village started discussing it," a CB officer said.

The police said Mandal planned to kill Chaupal and called him to Mumbai with false promises. Chaupal went to the construction site around 1 am, directly from LTT, Kurla. There, Mandal allegedly hit him on his head with an iron rod." As Chaupal was alive, the main accused tried to strangulate him and the other two accused held his hands. Then the fourth accused brought a knife with which the main accused slit his throat," the officer said.

The accused then dumped the body in the building's water tank. The next day the main accused bought 25 kg salt which they threw inside the tank, the officer said. "The accused were arrested from Bihar and Karnataka and charged under various sections of IPC," said DCP Prakash Jadhav, Mumbai Crime Branch.