A routine detention of a history-sheeter, who had violated the terms of his externment, led to the detection of a murder that he had allegedly committed this year.
According to the Thane police, the accused, Ejaz Ansari (22), had numerous cases, including serious offences like assault, registered against him with various police stations in Bhiwandi, due to which he was externed from the limits of the Thane City and the Thane Rural commissionerates this year.
The officers said police constable Amol Desai, with the Thane Crime Branch Unit I, received a tip-off on Tuesday that Mr. Ansari would be coming to Mahasagar Hotel near the Thane court, which was in violation of the terms of his externment. A Unit I team then detained him under the provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act at 10.40 a.m. and took him to its office for questioning.
Senior police inspector Nitin Thakre, Thane Crime Branch Unit I, said, “While being questioned, Mr. Ansari confessed to committing a murder in Bhiwandi in February. We grilled him further and he said that he had got into an argument with a man named Faisal Sayyed (25), and had stabbed him to death along with an accomplice, Salman Khan.”
After ascertaining the spot where the murder allegedly took place, the Unit I got in touch with the Shanti Nagar police in Bhiwandi, under whose jurisdiction the spot falls, and sought information from them to corroborate the claim. Mr. Thakre said, “The Shanti Nagar police got back to us saying that Sayyed was indeed found with stab wounds behind the municipal school near Chishtiya Masjid in February. He was admitted to a local hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment a few days later. The police had first registered a complaint of attempt to murder, which was upgraded to a murder case after Sayyed succumbed to injuries.”
The Unit I officers then produced Mr. Ansari in court and informed the court that he was in violation of his externment conditions. Mr. Ansari was later remanded in judicial custody. On Wednesday, the Shanti Nagar police sought his custody for interrogation in the Sayyed murder case. An officer with the Shanti Nagar police said, “The court had given us his custody. We will be taking him into custody from the Thane Central Jail on Thursday.”