Four unsolved murders in a month keep cops on their toes

The Navi Mumbai police are struggling to solve four murder cases that took place in the last one month. In all the cases, the victims’ bodies were found at isolated spots and only one of the four victims has been identified so far.

According to the city police, they have solved 48 out of 49 murder cases that were registered in 2015. Likewise, only two cases registered in 2014 remained unsolved.

This year, though the scenario is different as the cases continue to pile up, with the investigating officers still clueless even about the identity of all the victims.

On March 13, the body of an unidentified woman aged between 20 and 25 was found along Panvel-Matheran Road. An auto driver spotted the body near Shantivan Ashram and informed the police.

In the second case, another unidentified woman aged between 35 and 40 was found murdered along railway tracks on March 21. She had injury marks on her head.

Pandurang Khandagle, a 38-year-old auto rickshaw driver from Kopar Khairane, was found murdered at Shilphata Road on the night of April 3. He allegedly got a call for a trip before he was killed. He sustained serious injuries after being hit with hard objects, the police said.

In the latest case, another woman aged around 30 was found murdered near a cemetery at Mota Khanda village on Monday. She too has not been identified.

Maloji Shinde, senior police inspector of New Panvel police station who is investigating the March 13 case, said, “Since we have not recovered a photo identity proof from her, we cannot say if she was a local of Panvel or a resident of some other area. The deceased was wearing a blue saree with red border and a mangalsutra. There was also a flower tattooed on her right hand. We are coordinating with all other police station and expect some development in this case.”

“While two cases are from city zone 1 and the other two are from zone 2. The respective police satiations are investigating the case and we are confident of solving all these cases,” said a senior crime branch official.