The Mira Road police arrested a 34-year-old man on Friday for allegedly stabbing to death an elderly woman last week. The accused has claimed he acted in revenge, but the police suspect a case of a robbery gone wrong.
The police said that Rita Roderigues (60) stayed alone in Samruddhi Building in Poonam Garden and was found dead on November 4. A murder case was registered against unknown persons under the Indian Penal Code and a joint team of Mira Road police and the Local Crime Branch was formed to investigate the case.
Officers of the joint team said the building’s CCTV footage showed the accused entering it in a suspicious manner and leaving soon after. The police identified the accused as Sanjay Verma (34), a former resident of the building. He was traced to his native Kanpur and picked up. He allegedly confessed to stabbing the victim in the throat, torso and limbs. The police said the accused left for Kanpur on the same day that the murder took place.
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Police Inspector Vyankat Andhale, LCB, Thane Rural Police, said that the accused in his confession admitted that he entered into an argument with the victim a few months ago while he was still staying in the building.
Mr. Andhale said, “He had asked Rita if he could use her car to take his wife to a doctor and she rudely turned down his request. She allegedly told him to be aware of his aukaat (status). This comment angered him.”
The police said that Mr. Verma visited Roderigues on the day of the murder on the pretext of giving her a box of sweets for Deepavali. He then attacked her with a knife and fled with her bangles, necklace, earrings and some cash from her purse.
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Senior Police Inspector Vasant Labdhe, Mira Road police station, said, “Efforts are on to recover the jewellery that the accused sold in Kanpur. Rita’s relatives are being quizzed to find out if anything else is missing from the house. We have not ruled out the possibility of the accused having killed Rita because she resisted his attempts to rob the house.”
Mr. Verma was produced in court on Friday and has been remanded in police custody till November 14.