The police on Saturday revealed that Priyanka Sidhesh Gurav’s husband, his friend, and in-laws planned her murder even before she got married.
According to a police source, the family wanted to get rid of the 23-year-old victim as she was forcing their son, Sidhesh Gurav (23), to marry her. Frustrated with the advances made by the victim, Sidhesh along with his parents — Manohar Sitaram Gurav (49) and Madhuri (45) — and his friend, Durgesh Patwa (25), planned to eliminate her. They agreed to the marriage on April 30 only after they had prepared a plan to murder her.
The police source said, “Priyanka had complained to the police about Sidhesh’s reluctance to marry her despite having physical relationship with her. Madhuri often met Durgesh, an imitation jewellery maker, and complained about Priyanka mounting pressure on Sidhesh to marry her. Durgesh then planted the idea of eliminating Priyanka in their minds. They family agreed to pay Durgesh ₹40,000 as advance and a total of₹1 lakh for severing and dumping Priyanka’s body.”
Body severed, disposed of
On May 4, Sidhesh, his parents and Durgesh smothered Priyanka using a pillow and strangled her. Durgesh then severed the body into three parts in the bathroom and packed them in separate plastic bags. The police source said Durgesh used a black Santro car belonging to his friend to dump the body parts in various parts of the city.
“He first dumped the trunk in a nullah in Mahape. He later burnt the legs in a forest area on Ambernath road and disposed of the plastic bag containing the head in another forest area near Asangaon. While the burnt remains of the legs have been recovered, hunt is on to find the severed head in Asangaon.”
Priyanka, who stayed with her brother in Diva after her parents death, met Sidhesh while pursuing B.Com in a college in Dombivali. The accused used to stay in Dombivali, but shifted on the day of the marriage to the Public Works Department’s quarters at Worli. Sidesh’s father works as a security worker with department. On May 6, the police found Priyanka’s trunk in the nullah at Mahape. The deceased was identified with the help of a tattoo of an Om symbol and Lord Ganapati on the left shoulder of the body.
Contradictory claims
On May 7, Sidhesh registered a missing complaint with Worli police. The accused were arrested after the police found their statements to be contradictory. Senior Police Inspector Chandrakant Katkar from Rabale MIDC police station said. “The accused were presented in court and have been remanded in police custody till May 22.
