Mumbai: Murderer arrested 28 long years later

Anil and Sunil Saroj, two other accused in the case, are still at large

A 48-year-old man was arrested on Thursday night for killing a 27-year-old woman and her four children, including a three-month-old baby, in 1994. Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar police crime branch's unit 1 are on the lookout for two other accused in the case. The accused, Rajkumar Amarnath Chauhan alias Kaliya, had been working in Doha, Qatar since 2007. He arrived in Mumbai on Thursday, following which he was detained by the immigration department and then handed over to MBVV crime branch officers.

The incident took place on November 16, 1994 when Chauhan along with Anil Saroj and Sunil Saroj killed Jagrani Devi Prajapati and her children Pramod, 5; Pinki, 3; Chintu, 2; and Pintu who was only 3 months old. All the deceased and accused lived in Bharwad Chawl, Penkarpada, Mira Road and were neighbours.

MBVV crime branch unit 1 officers with arrested accused Rajkumar Amarnath Chauhan. Pic/Hanif Patel

During investigation, it was revealed that a day before the murder, Anil allegedly tried to molest Prajapati and that her daughter Pinki allegedly broke the handle of Anil's suitcase on November 16 morning. This led to a quarrel, and Anil, along with Chauhan and Sunil who lived in the same chawl room, came to her place with chopper and knives and brutally killed them. The accused then locked the door from outside and escaped.

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The murder came to notice when Prajapati's husband Rajnarayan returned home from work in the afternoon. After seeing that the door was locked from outside, he peeped in from the window and saw his wife and kids lying in a pool of blood. With the help of locals, he broke the lock and entered while his wife was breathing her last.

He rushed to the police station following which cops conducted a panchnama and sent the bodies for autopsy. Cops thereafter registered a case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 452 (house trespass) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

During investigation, the police learnt that Anil and Sunil were cousins and hailed from Nishad village in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh while Chauhan was from Banaras. It was also revealed that Rajnarayan was aware of the attempted molestation and breaking of the suitcase. Rajnarayan had urged Anil to not quarrel with them and even promised to buy a new suitcase.

The case remained undetected as cops failed to trace any of the three accused. Meanwhile, Rajnarayan died in a road accident in 2007.

The case again came up after the MBVV police, formed in 2020, started looking at old undetected cases. Under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahesh Patil, Senior Inspector Aviraj Kurade, Sub-inspector Hitendra Vichare and team started a probe.

Constable Pushpendra Thapa, attached to the crime branch, got information about the hometowns of the accused following which a team first went to Banaras to Chauhan's village and then to Jaunpur to Saroj's village.

"We went to Saroj's village in Jaunpur and learnt from his relatives and other locals that he had not returned to the village in a long time. However, when we visited Banaras, we learnt that Chauhan was working in Doha, Qatar since 2007. We managed to get his passport details and issued a lookout circular in 2021," said DCP Avinash Ambure.

When Chauhan landed in Mumbai airport on Thursday, the immigration department detained him based on the LOC and alerted MBVV police. The cops went and took his custody. Chauhan was produced before a court on Friday and has been remanded in police custody.

Another team has been formed to search for the other two accused in the case, said a police officer.