Two individuals have been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation. Durgaprasad Prajapati, 24, who supports himself through various petty jobs, and his cousin Dineshkumar Prajapati, 27, who specializes in retreading old tyres, were presented before the Mangaon JMFC court. The court has remanded both suspects to police custody until August 31.
Navi Mumbai: Mangaon police have arrested a 24-year-old man and his cousin from Pimpri-Chinchwad for allegedly murdering a 30-year-old married woman, with whom the former was in an illicit relationship, and dumping her body in the bushes in Tamhini ghat on Tuesday. On Thursday, the two arrested accused — Durgaprasad Prajapati, who takes up petty jobs to earn a living, and his cousin Dineshkumar Prajapati (27), who retreads old tyres — were produced before the Mangaon JMFC court, which remanded them to police custody till Aug 31. On Tuesday, around 12.35pm, an unidentified woman was found unconscious in the bushes of Tamhini ghat along Pune-Mangaon road near Kondethar village, said Maruti Andhale, senior inspector of Mangaon police station.
“Durgaprasad said that after Suman’s husband was released from jail, she eloped with him to Chikhali about two months ago.
“Durgaprasad revealed that he was in an illicit relationship with Suman, when her husband was in jail for four months after being arrested by Uttar Pradesh police in a criminal case registered against him,” Andhale said. She was taken to Mangaon sub-district hospital, where the doctors declared her ‘brought dead’. As there was no space at the mortuary, the medical officer gave a referral letter to take the body to the Panvel sub-district hospital, where the post-mortem examination was conducted. Later, she insisted that she did not want her two minor children to stay with her husband and demanded that Durgaprasad allow her two minor children to stay with them. As Durgaprasad was unwilling to take the responsibility of her children, he decided to eliminate her. Under the pretext of taking her for a joyride, he and his cousin took her in a car and strangled her with her dupatta. Thereafter, they drove the car along Tamhini ghat at night and dumped her body in the bushes.”
After the advance death certificate obtained from the medical officer at Panvel sub-district hospital stated that the woman’s death was caused by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, we registered a murder case against the unidentified accused,” Andhale said. “Prima facie, an accidental death report was registered.