Sakinaka rape case: Monetary dispute resulted in the murder, say police

The tempo in which the woman was found injured. File pic/Sameer Markande

The Sakinaka police and Special Task Force which are being monitored by an ACP's team have found that the 32-year-old victim and the accused in her rape and murder knew each other for the past few months. Police said the murder was the result of a monetary dispute between them.

On Monday, Hemant Nagrale, commissioner of Mumbai police, addressing the media said that they have added sections of the ST/SC Atrocities Act in the case. Police have also recovered the murder weapon which the accused Mohan Chauhan used to stab and kill the woman.

Hemant Nagrale, commissioner of police, Mumbai

Nagrale said, "The primary cause of death of the woman were injuries to her private parts, abdomen and other body parts. We recovered the weapon which the accused hid after killing her. The victim and Chauhan had met five times previously and had some monetary transaction." Nagrale further said the reason behind the murder is the monetary dispute between them.

Accused's clothes seized

With the help of CCTV footage in the crime spot, 50-year-old Chauhan was arrested two hours after the murder, on being seen at Kurla in another CCTV recording. The police said after killing the woman he went to his relative's place at Sangharsh Nagar in Sakinaka. Chauhan confessed to the police that he had gone to his cousin's place where he took a bath and changed his clothes. Police have recovered Chauhan's clothes from his cousin's house and they have blood on them. The clothes have been sent for forensic analysis to check if they match the victim's blood.

‘Patrolling in quiet places'

Nagrale said, "Patrolling will be increased in quiet places where few people stay. We will also install QR codes at these places where if there are illegally parked vehicles, the officials of that locality could be held accountable. Women travelling alone at night will be provided help if they ask night patrolling officers." The police personnel have to scan the QR code through an app so their presence there is recorded.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Maheshwar Reddy of Zone 10 said, "On the day of the incident we received a call at the police control room at 3.20am. The caller informed us that a woman was injured at Sakinaka and needed help. On reaching the spot we found a woman, who was bleeding profusely, inside a parked tempo. Our officers took the tempo to Rajawadi hospital and admitted her."