Cops find husband’s skeleton in Mumbai brothel owner’s house

PALGHAR: Sarita ran a brothel in Dandipada, Boisar (East). We had arrested her and one of her customers for prostitution. They were remanded in police custody till December 9. MANSINH PATIL,

Assistant inspector of Boisar police

A day after a brothel owner from Palghar confessed to killing three people, police smashed a cement slab at her house on Wednesday and recovered the skeletal remains of her husband Sahdev, whom she had allegedly murdered in 2004.

Sarita Bharati, 42, and her lover Kamlesh Chavan, stoned Sahdev to death after he caught them in a compromising position, police said. They disposed of his body in a septic tank, which they covered with cement, said assistant inspector of Boisar police Mansinh Patil.

Police said Sahdev’s upper and lower jaw were intact and his bone marrow was in a good condition, which meant the DNA testing could be carried out at the Kalina lab.

Police are digging the surrounding areas to find the skeletal remains of the other victims.

“Sarita ran a brothel in Dandipada, Boisar (East). We had arrested her and one of her customers for prostitution under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) on Sunday. They were remanded in police custody till December 9, when they will be produced before the Palghar court,” he said.

Police have not arrested Sarita for murder as they are still investigating the prostitution racket.

“We are on the hunt for Kamlesh, who is absconding. We will also question her son Sandesh, 25, who is a tempo driver in Palghar,” he added.

Police suspect Sandesh, who was a minor then, had aided Sarita and Kamlesh when they murdered Sahdev. They are investigating his role.

After murdering Sahdev, Sarita told neighbours that he was an alcoholic who had deserted her and that is why she did not ask police to register a missing person’s case.

The Boisar MIDC police said Sarita recently murdered one of her customers, a Bengali man, as she wanted to steal the ₹1 lakh he was carrying.

“She has not told us where she disposed of the body,” said the official.

Police said Sarita practices black magic and murdered a third person as human sacrifice.