Thane: Denied water, man raped, killed 63-year-old

Refusung a glass of water to a former employee of her son's factory is what got Ulhasnagar resident Veena Ramnani killed. The 63-year-old was smothered to death on July 5 and robbed of jewellery, by a 38-year-old man, who is now in police custody.

Sunil Kanoje (in hood) being escorted by cops. Pic/Navneet Barhate

The arrested accused is Sunil Sudham Kanoje, a resident of Karavli in Karjat. He was arrested by the Ulhasnagar Crime Branch, who have also recovered the deceased's gold bangles from him. During interrogations, Kanoje confessed to the crime and also claimed that he raped the woman before killing her.

However, Thane police are waiting for the post mortem reports to verify his claims.

Missing from home
Kanoje used to work in the factory of the deceased's son in Ulhasnagar. On the morning of July 5, Ramnani was found dead, with a pillow next to her at her Ulhasnagar residence by her son. mid-day reported the story on July 6, ‘62-year-old smothered to death with pillow.'

The Ulhasnagar crime branch was investigating the case as a robbery since her jewellery was missing. "With the help of the CCTV footage, we got a clue as the accused was seen roaming around. We found that he was a former employee of the [deceased's] son's incense stick factory. We looked for him at his house but he was missing and hence we doubted his involvement," said a police officer.

No water, no life
In his statement to the police, Kanoje said he used to visit Ramnani sometimes to have food. On the night of July 4, after he had dinner, he went to Ramnani's house and asked for some water. But she refused. Infuriated, he slept outside her house and waited till late night.

Later, he entered the house and first raped her, robbed her bangles, killed her and fled. We are checking the post mortem reports to get the facts clear in the case as the accused confessed during the interrogation that he had raped her," said a senior official from Thane Crime Branch.

Bangles recovered
Parag Manare, deputy commissioner of police, Thane crime branch, said teams started a search operation across Ulhasnagar, Kalyan, Panvel, Karjat railway station and adjoining areas to search for him. But they could not get leads. "But on Wednesday, based on information from sources, we found that he was coming to Ulhasnagar and caught hold of him. We have recovered two bangles weighing two tolas from him and are further investigating," added Manare.