Week on, missing Thane jeweller’s body found

Bharat Jain is believed to be with friends when he went missing

The body of a 42-year-old Thane jeweller who went missing last week was found at Mumbra creek on Friday. Bharat Jain had a shop at Charai and is believed to be with his friends on the night of August 14 after which he never returned home.

Jain left his home near Makhmali lake to open his shop, BK Jewellers, in the morning. Around 11 pm, he called his wife Seema and told her that he would be back within an hour. He again called at 11.50 pm saying he would be returning in a while. But his phone remained switched off after that. The next day, Seema filed a missing complaint at Naupada police station.

"During the preliminary inquiry, CCTV footage outside the jewellery shop showed Jain walking up to a car and sitting in it around midnight. The car had also passed the shop 8 hours ago," said Jain's brother Sunil. "The driver was traced by cops who told them that there were 4 people including my brother in his car. He said they were drinking and got off at Ghansoli," said Sunil.

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The Thane jewellers' community is in shock over his brother's death, said Sunil, adding, "I am surprised, there is always heavy police bandobast on the eve of Independence Day. If all the passengers in the car were drinking, how could they go unnoticed in Thane as well as Navi Mumbai."

Around 2 pm on Friday, onlookers noticed a body at Retibunder creek, near Ganpati Visarjan Ghat, Mumbra (W), Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran's body had been found.

The fire brigade and police fished out the body and sent it to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa for post-mortem.

Relatives of Jain identified him on the basis of his clothes and his Scooty keys. DCP (zone 1) Avinash Ambure said, "The body is decomposed, it's a case of murder. The post-mortem will be done tomorrow which may reveal the exact day of the murder. There's no sign of robbery in his jewellery shop." He said the missing complaint will be upgraded with murder charges.