Maharashtra: One arrested for murder of 29-year-old car driver from Palghar

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Two days after the body of a 29-year-old car driver from Palghar district in Maharashtra was found, the police on Thursday claimed to have arrested one of the three persons allegedly involved in his brutal murder, reported news agency PTI.

The car which victim Asif Dochi was driving at the time of his murder too was recovered from Odisha following the arrest, district superintendent of police Balasaheb Patil told PTI.

Two other accused in the case will be nabbed soon, he added.

On August 12, 2023, the trio had booked the car, belonging to Dochi's friend, for traveling to Nashik. Dochi, who drove an auto rickshaw, had agreed to drive them, as per his family, reported PTI.

But all four became untraceable thereafter.

On August 15, the car driver's body was found in Amboli ghats in neighbouring Nashik district with multiple wounds and a rope tied around the neck.

As the car was spotted near Raipur, a team was sent to Chhattisgarh for probe, SP Patil told PTI.

One of the suspects was finally traced to Odisha and arrested and the car was also recovered, he said, adding that further probe was on.

Meanwhile, Police have arrested three persons -- two from Rajasthan and one from Mumbai -- in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old woman and robbery of nearly Rs 3 crore at her home in Tardeo, an official told PTI on Thursday.

One of the accused, Sumeet Tatwal, was an employee at an imitation jewellery shop run by the woman's husband, Madan Mohan Agarwal (75), and their distant relative in the Kalbadevi area, he said.

The incident occurred on Sunday at 'Yusuf Manzil' building in Tardeo in south Mumbai where three men barged into the house of Madan Mohan Agarwal and committed robbery after killing his wife Surekha, the official told PTI.

The trio made away with Rs 2.79 crore worth of gold and diamond jewellery besides Rs 7 lakh in cash. The elderly woman died of suffocation after being tied and gagged with cello tape during the robbery, he said.

During the probe, the police arrested 37-year-old Tatwal from suburban Malad on Wednesday. Tatwal, who hails from Rajasthan, hatched the conspiracy to commit robbery at his employer's home though he himself was not present at the crime spot, the official told PTI.

During Tatwal's interrogation, it came to light that he had called three persons from his native state to commit robbery at the home of the senior citizen couple, he said.

The accused persons had deposited the stolen cash in Tatwal's bank account, the official told PTI.

While tracking the accused, the police traced their locations in Pune, Indore, Ujjain and Rajasthan, and quickly dispatched teams to those places to nab them.

One of the teams went to Jhalawar in Rajasthan, from where they arrested two accused -- Raju alias Raja Ram Meghwal (35) and his aide Surendra Singh (37) -- with the help of their local counterparts, he said.

Police have recovered 1.81 kg of the stolen jewellery from the arrested persons, he said, adding a search was on for the fourth accused in the case.

(With inputs from PTI)