10 January,2017 04:47 PM IST | | Asif Rizvi and Samiullah Khan
Deceased Nikunj Chaurasia was given a spiked drink and was later killed when he became unconscious; case was finally solved after cops came across the CCTV footage
A CCTV grab that shows Kamlesh at a liquor shop on the day of the incident
Nearly a month-and-a-half after Bandra's famous paanwala Shivprasad alias Munna Chaurasia's son Nikunj c was found murdered, the Thane Rural Crime Branch nailed three people involved in the incident on Monday. The arrested accused have been identified as Kamlesh Sahani from Nalasopara and Rupesh Saha and Mantu Patel from Bihar. Investigations have revealed that Nikunj was murdered after thorough planning and the motive behind the gruesome act was to loot the gold ornaments and cash that he had on him.
Five-year-long friendship
Police sources said that Rupesh became friends with Nikunj around five years ago. Rupesh's brother Santosh used to work as a security guard in a building just behind the paan shop. Whenever Santosh visited his native place, Rupesh took his place as a guard at the building. Rupesh was well aware that Nikunj used to wear a lot of gold. However, the plan to kill him was hatched by Rupesh's friend Kamlesh. As per the plan, Rupesh met Nikunj late in the evening on November 22, while Mantu and Kamlesh waited at a distance. Rupesh offered him to come for a drink at Banstand. After having the drink, which was spiked with sedatives, Nikunj started feeling drowsy. Thereafter, the trio hired a taxi and took him to Godhbunder road, where he was murdered.
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Head smashed
Speaking on the issue, an officer from Thane Rural Crime Branch said, "Nikunj resisted when the trio tried to rob him, but was easily overpowered by them. They smashed his head with a heavy stone, which eventually led to his death. The gold and cash that Nikunj was carrying were not recovered from the spot. Hence, we started investigations suspecting robbery to be the prime motive behind the murder."
CCTV footage helped solve case
In the course of the probe, the cops interrogated over 402 people but they did not get a clue till they came across a CCTV footage showing a suspect talking to Nikunj hours before the murder. It was only after they circulated the footage among various police stations, they came to know that the suspect was Kamlesh.
Speaking to mid-day, investigating officer of the case Praful Wagh said, "We had received a tip off that the person seen in the CCTV footage was spotted in Nalasopara. After that we picked up Kamlesh from the area for interrogations, during which he confessed to his involvement in the murder. Further probe revealed that two others, who were part of the crime, had fled to Narkatiyaganj in Bihar. A team was immediately sent there to arrest them." The police have recovered a gold chain, cell phone and the keys of Nikunj's bike from the accused.
Read Story: Mumbai cops want help identifying key suspect in top Bandra paanwala's son's murder
Father shocked
Nikunj's father Munna Chaurasia told mid-day, "I cannot believe that Rupesh killed my son. His brother Santosh used to eat with me twice daily. Rupesh had called me three to four times while the cops were investigating the case. Just because he was guilty, he was calling me to enquire about the case. Even Santosh met me a couple of times after the murder."
