Mumbai: Child leads cops to duo who ‘killed’, hanged man from tree

Tilak Nagar cops with the two alleged killers

Nearly 40 days of persistent detection led a Tilak Nagar officer to a child, who gave her vital clues that helped crack the murder of an unidentified man, whose body was found hanging by a tree in a Chembur garden in April. In the wee hours of April 19, the Tilak Nagar police received information about a dead body hanging by a tree in the garden near Holy Family School in Chembur. Police registered an accidental death report and the case was assigned to Sub-Inspector Pournima Hande.

Hande tried to establish the identity of the deceased, believed to be in his 30s, but in vain. "We checked all the missing reports and circulated the deceased's picture, hoping it would reach his family, but nothing helped," said a cop. Meanwhile, Hande along with other officers were consistently questioning people in the vicinity of the garden for some clue, as nothing was found on the clips of over 100 CCTV cameras they had examined.

Child gives clue

"A couple of days ago, while cops were questioning more people, a child told them that he had witnessed a fight near the garden the night before the body was found. Based on this clue, police questioned some more people and found another eyewitness who confirmed the brawl involving two local residents," said another officer. Within 24 hours of receiving the information from the second witness, police detained two suspects, the cop added.

They confessed: Cops

During interrogation, Gauram Borade alias Taklya, 28, and Afzal Salim Sheikh, 22, confessed to hitting the man and hanging him by the tree, police said. The duo told the cops that the deceased had abused them for no reason and despite being warned, he kept on hurling expletives at them, cops said. He was heavily drunk, they said. Borade and Sheikh were booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 34 (common intention) on Wednesday night. "The dead body is still in the mortuary of Rajawadi Hospital, as his identity is yet to be established," said Deepak Bagul, senior inspector, Tilak Nagar police station. During the post-mortem, doctors reserved the cause of death.