19 September,2014 07:27 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
After finding the body on Sunday, Mumbai Crime Branch began looking for leads; cops were informed that a woman had been missing in Dharavi; husband confessed to the murder yesterday
The Crime Branch has managed to solve the murder mystery of a housewife whose body was recovered from a dumping yard in Mulund on Sunday. In a twist to the case, the police have arrested the husband, who had allegedly tried to file a missing complaint of his wife Rakhadevi Gautam (26) to divert attention from the fact that he had murdered her because he suspected she was having an affair.
Accused Sanjaykumar Gautam and his deceased wife Rakhadevi
Sanjaykumar Gautam had dumped Rakhadevi's body in a garbage bin after killing her. It was picked up by a dumping truck, which had picked up garbage from nearly 15 places in the city before dumping it all at the Mulund yard on Sunday, making it difficult for the cops to ascertain the locality of the deceased.
Senior police inspector Venkat Patil of Crime Branch (Unit VII) said, "In order to identify the woman, a team was set up and tasked with questioning several rag pickers and the driver of the dumping truck." During the investigation, it was revealed that a woman named Rakhadevi had been missing from her Dharavi residence since September 14.
Assistant Police Inspector Anil Dhole of Unit VII said, "One of our informers told us that the wife of Dharavi resident Sanjaykumar Gautam had been missing since Sunday, after which we collected some information and called him in for questioning. He broke down and confessed that he had made his wife drink poison on Saturday night and, when she died, he dumped her body in the nearest garbage bin after wrapping it in a sack."
Further interrogation revealed that Sanjaykumar had married Rakhadevi in UP just eight months ago and had been in Mumbai for less than two months. Sanjaykumar said he had always suspected Rakhadevi of having an affair and they had been fighting since they got married.
Missing plaint
Officials said Sanjaykumar had even gone to the Bandra GRP to file a missing complaint by concocting a story of how Rakhadevi had gone missing while going to the Jivdani Temple in Virar. He developed cold feet outside the police station, however, and didn't go ahead with that plan.
Sanjaykumar has been booked under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code. He has been handed over to the Navghar police.
