Unidentified Palghar man's body found; cops register murder case

Representational Image

The body of an unidentified Palghar man with injury marks has been found in Maharashtra's Palghar district, with the police suspecting it to be a case of murder, an official said on Sunday, reported news agency PTI.

A passerby on Saturday afternoon spotted the body beneath the Vaitarna bridge on Mokhada-Kasara road and alerted the police, an official from Mokhada police station said, reported PTI.

The police went to the spot and sent the body of the Palghar man, believed to be in the age group of 30 to 35 years, to a government hospital for postmortem, he said, reported PTI.

A case was registered against unidentified persons under Indian Penal code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), the official said, reported PTI.

A probe was on into the case.

In another case, the Mumbai police have arrested a man in connection with the death of a 40-year-old homeless woman, whose body was found on the roadside in Sewree last month, an official said on Saturday, reported PTI.

The police on Friday arrested Shehzada alias Ramzan Sheikh (37), a contractual employee of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), for the murder of Sapna Satish Batham, the official said, reported PTI.

A woman's partially decomposed body was found in the bushes on the roadside in Sewree on January 22, following which a probe was initiated, he said, reported PTI.

The police examined missing persons' reports and CCTV footage from the area to ascertain the identity of the victim, the official said, reported PTI.

In a CCTV footage, a couple was seen arriving at the spot in a scooter and entering the bushes. Based on the vehicle's licence plate number, the police zeroed in on the accused and established the victim's identity, he said, reported PTI.

The victim was homeless and lived on the streets in Mumbai Central. Sheikh used to frequent the locality, and on January 14, he allegedly lured her with the promise of buying her alcohol and took her to Sewree, the official said.

When the victim refused to give in to his demand for sex, the accused bludgeoned her to death with a stone and killed her on the spot, he said, reported PTI.

The accused and the victim knew each other and he was arrested in 2018 for allegedly kidnapping her daughter, the official said.

(With inputs from PTI)