Mumbai: Eight days after her mutilated body was found, police recovered the severed head of Priyanka Gurav from a forest near Shahapur on Sunday. Meanwhile, one more accused in the case has been arrested, taking the number of arrests in connection to the gruesome murder to five.
Police said Vishal Lalchand Sony, 32, a Dombivali resident, helped accused Durgesh Patwa, 25, to dump her body parts at different places in his black Santro. “Sony showed us where the head had been disposed of,” API Amar Jagdale, Rabale MIDC police station, said. As per investigations, Patwa was hired for ₹1 lakh and had been paid ₹40,000 as an advance.
“Patwa could have promised to share the money with Sony,” Mr. Jagdale said. Priyanka’s husband Sidhesh Gurav, a TCS employee, in-laws Manohar Sitaram Gurav, 49, a security officer with the State PWD and Madhuri, 45, were arrested with Patwa on Friday for Priyanka’s murder.
According to the police, the Guravs were frustrated with the demands for marriage by the victim, who had complained more than once to the police that Sidhesh was refusing marriage after being in a physical relationship with her. “The family claimed the girl had undergone abortion twice before the wedding, and had had affairs with other men. They do not show any remorse and feel she deserved it,” a police officer said.
Priyanka’s mother-in-law, who knew Patwa, would often share her frustration over Priyanka and Patwa offered to help eliminate her. The Guravs, who were against the marriage, agreed to it after plotting the murder. The incident came to light of May 6 when a part of her body was found in a nullah at Mahape. On May 7, her husband filed a missing person complaint at Worli police station, and the body was identified based on tattoos. The accused were identified after the police found their statements contradicted each other’s.
Priyanka, who resided with her brother in Diva after her parent’s death, had met Sidhesh, her classmate, while pursuing BCom in a Dombivali college.
