Anatomy course, YouTube videos helped Virar killer chop victim's body

Pintoo Sharma

The police team probing the barbaric murder case of Ganesh Koladkar, 53, have come up against even more stomach-churning details of the crime. During questioning, the accused, Pintoo Sharma, allegedly told the police that he had first read up extensively on the murder case of Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore in order to ensure Koladkar's murder was not easily solved. He had then gone to YouTube to learn how to chop up a human body into tiny pieces.

A Ssnior officer said, "Sharma told us that he had read all the Bidre-Gore newspaper reports from where he learnt that if the flesh is scraped off the bones it would become impossible to establish the identity of the person. Second, if the bones and skull are thrown in a creek, it would be very hard for the police to recover."

Sharma had read up on API Ashwini Bidre-Gore's murder for clues on how to trick cops

The officer added that on January 16 morning, Sharma reached Koladkar's ground floor flat in Aviskar Society at Mira Road from where the duo took Koladkar's motorcycle to the station, parked the bike there and took a train to Virar. "After they reached the Virar flat, Sharma came down a few minutes later to buy a soft drink and went back upstairs," said the officer. Sharma is believed to have intoxicated the soft drink before serving it to Koladkar on January 16. Besides murder weapons, the cops have also recovered four buckets, one mug and pieces of floor cleaning cloth from the flat in Bachraj Paradise. "Sharma would collect the chopped pieces of flesh in one of the buckets, which he then flushed into the toilet after it filled up," the cop said. Sharma had kept the body locked inside the bathroom whenever he returned to his Santacruz flat, the cop said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Jayant Bajbale said, "After murdering Koladkar, Sharma took Koladkar's motorcycle and abandoned it on a road. We have recovered the motorcycle. Koladkar's sister Anagha Gokhale has identified his T-shirt, ring found with one of his chopped fingers, spectacles, and motorcycle." The cops have acquired CCTV footage of both Virar and Mira Road stations.

The door to the flat in Bachraj Paradise in Virar where the horrific murder was committed

Course in anatomy
A highly-placed source at Arnala police station told mid-day, "Sharma told us he has done a certificate course on Anatomy and Physiology of Human Body from University of Mumbai. So, he was well aware of the human skeletal system. He had bought three hacksaw blades and a stone to sharpen them on from a shop in Santacruz." The officer added, "While chopping up the body, Sharma watched a YouTube tutorial to learn how to chop it into multiple pieces."

Did Sharma sell the flesh?
The investigating teams and Koladkar's family are finding it hard to believe that a 'financial dispute' was the reason behind the inhuman murder. The cops said, "Apart from flushing down the flesh in the toilet, Sharma might have also tried to sell the chopped pieces in the local market at Virar. We are probing this angle, too." The cops have also scanned Sharma's bank details. "He has one Demat account as he is share broker by profession," the officer said.

Sources told mid-day that after the murder, when Koladkar's Pune-based sister had been desperately trying to contact him on the phone, Sharma would pick it up and respond pretending to be a woman. He would tell the sister, "You all do not take good care of Ganesh. We are soon getting married and Ganesh does not wish to speak to you. Do not call him henceforth," said a senior police officer.

After Koladkar's phone became unreachable, the sister called the Naya Nagar police in Mira Road and registered a missing person complaint on January 20. When the investigating team asked Sharma about Koladkar's mobile phone, he said he had thrown it in the Bhayandar creek. The cops are yet to recover it.

Another murder
The cops suspect that Sharma has also kidnapped a Borivli-based man in Naigaon last year. A case was registered at Valiv police station and while he was subsequently in the case, he was released on bail. "Though Sharma has denied his role in this case, we have called in the investigating officer and are probing it thoroughly," said the officer who added, "Sharma is partially co-operating with us in the murder case."

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