Investigations into a two-month-old missing case of a Nerul man have revealed that he was killed and then burnt by his gang members at Uran.
A member of Deshmukh gang, Sachin Garje (32) was close to the founder, Vikrant alias Vicky Deshmukh, who is also the mastermind of the crime. Garje, a resident of Sector 24 in Nerul, was last seen on September 14. He had left home around 9.30 p.m. saying that he was going to meet his friends. Since he had not returned, his family lodged a missing person’s complaint the next day.
The police found out that he was kidnapped by his own gang members. “His family members knew the people whom he had gone to meet outside a Seawoods mall. There were witnesses who saw him getting with them into their vehicle, and accordingly, a case of kidnapping was registered with the Nerul police on November 16. The case was later handed over to the Crime Branch,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Pravinkumar Patil said.
A Central Unit team of the Crime Branch arrested three of the gang members and on interrogation, one of them spilled the beans.
After being kidnapped, Garje was brutally assaulted and shot dead by gang members and then was drowned in the sea at Nhava Sheva. “When the body came ashore with the waves, they dug a pit at the beach to hide it. But the waves washed the sand away exposing the body. Finally, after two days of murdering him, the accused burnt the body at Ransai jungle in Uran,” a Crime Branch officer said.
Earlier this week, the accused led the Crime Branch team to the spot where the body was burnt. “We have found the complete trail of incidents from abduction to murder. The main accused, Mr. Deshmukh, is on the run along with some of his accomplices, and once he is nabbed, the reason behind the murder can be found,” Mr. Patil said.
Prima facie, the police believe that Mr. Deshmukh had recently a tiff with Garje over money which could be the trigger behind the killing.
Garje and Mr. Deshmukh were in the past booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act and were lodged in Taloja jail. Mr. Deshmukh has over 25 cases registered against him.
He was arrested for the first time by the Uran police in 2004. Since then, his criminal activities rose and soon cases were registered against him at Vashi, NRI Coastal, Kharghar, Taloja, Kalamboli, CBD, JNPT, Uran, Murbad, Pali, Karjat, and Mangaon police stations. Around seven months ago, Mr. Deshmukh had got bail following which he started extortion activities at Nhava Sheva.
