Mumbai Crime: Estate agent murdered, body thrown on railway tracks

Sanjay Chavan

A 35- year-old estate agent from Kandivli was murdered and his body thrown on railway tracks near Roha railway station in Raigad on Tuesday. Cops have arrested three real estate agents from Antop Hill, one of whom has confessed to the murder.

Sanjay Chavan

According to the police, the deceased, Sanjay Gangaram Chavan alias Babu was missing from his New MHADA colony residence in Kandivli West since Monday morning. His wife, Pallavi, had registered a missing complaint at Charkop police station.

During investigation, the cops retrieved his call detail record and it was found that his last known location was near Roha. The police alerted the Roha police around 4 pm yesterday, and also sent his photograph for identification.

The Roha police found Chavan's body lying on railway tracks, after a motorman saw it and informed officials. Cops said that he was strangulated and later his body was thrown on tracks to mislead them. The body was then sent to JJ Hospital for autopsy, the report of which said that the accused was strangulated.

The Roha police registered a case under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

"Investigations revealed that the deceased had made a couple of calls to one of the accused, Pravin Mahesh Thakur. He was picked up by us from his Antop Hill residence and he confessed to the crime. Thakur also revealed the other two killers in the case," said an officer from Roha police station. The other accused are Nabi Hussain Sheikh and Venky.

During investigations, the Roha police found that Thakur was in touch with a builder in Kandivli who has undertaken several SRA projects in Babrekar Nagar in Charkop. "We are trying to gather more evidence in the case to ascertain the exact role of the builder," said one of the officers.