Mumbai Crime: Wife, 6 others held for murder of Kurla goon

Kotya lived at Jai Bhavani chawl, Bail Bazar, in Kurla West. Representation pic

Investigations into the disappearance of a Kurla West resident led cops to discover a real life ‘Drishyam' plot. Tired of the nuisance created by the man, seven people, including his wife and neighbours, killed him and buried the body in his own home two months ago.

They were caught after the police found their statements identical, including minute details.

The police said the 28-year-old victim, Deepak Sangle, alias Kotya, faced a string of cases and often filed false complaints against others. His wife and others decided to get rid of him after he talked of using the 9-year-old daughter of his sister-in-law to accuse some people of rape and extort money from them.

The police said forensic experts are yet to exhume the body. Representation pic

It all started with a missing complaint by Kotya's sister Sangeeta Sangle at Vinoba Bhave (VB) Nagar police station on June 21. She said her brother, who lived at Jai Bhavani chawl, Bail Bazar, had remained untraceable for a week and that she suspected involvement of his wife and neighbours.

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After DCP (zone 5) Pranay Ashok asked his officers to get to the bottom of the matter, Senior Inspector Rajesh Pawar formed a special team to trace Kotya. "Kotya was a notorious criminal. There were theft, robbery and molestation cases registered against him. We had also initiated a process to extern him," an officer from VB Nagar police. Meanwhile, a parallel investigation was being carried out by Unit 5 of the crime branch.

The crime branch first questioned Kotya's brother-in-law Aditya Gautam, 19, but he said he had no clue about his sudden disappearance. As they spoke to Kotya's relatives and neighbours, all feigned ignorance. The cops were alerted to the striking similarities in their statements that included minute details like place and time. They suspected the statements were a part of a well-crafted script.

The breakthrough came when Kotya's sister-in-law Manisha, 25, was grilled again two days ago. She told the crime branch that they killed Kotya on June 14 as he was thinking of using her daughter to file a false rape complaint against some people and blackmail them for money.

With the initial lead, VB Nagar cops renewed their focus on Kotya's wife, his brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Kotya's wife Saraswati, 21, then told the police that her elder brother Anand Gautam, 22, neighbours Vishal Karade, 25, Kishor Sahu, 27, and Ritik Vishwakarma, 22, were also involved in the murder. They were all arrested on Thursday. "Kotya was troubling many people and had a lot of enemies. His family was tired of his behaviour but when he started speaking of dragging the 9-year-old child into his dirty game, they decided enough was enough," said SI Pawar. "His wife gave him sleeping pills and when he went unconscious, he was killed with sharp weapons. They then buried the body in his own house," he added.

Kotya's body is yet to be retrieved by forensic experts. All seven suspects have been remanded in police custody till August 30.