60-year-old man held for murder of sex worker

Mumbai: A special investigation team of zone VI arrested a 60-year-old man for allegedly murdering and disposing body of a woman’s body in Shivaji Nagar area, by concealing it inside a drum. The police said that the accused is suspected to have fought with the deceased, who is a commercial sex worker, over unknown reasons. The police are probing the murder’s motive. Victim’s body was found on May 11.

The arrested accused has been identified as Babu Patel (60), a resident of Karave village in Nerul. He runs a local estate agency. The 40-year-old deceased also stayed in the same neighbourhood as Patel.

The Shivaji Nagar police began investigation after the dead body was found inside a blue drum at Natwar Parekh compound on May 11. During probe, the investigators came across a CCTV camera footage in which a mini tempo was captured while disposing the drum at the said spot.

“We found that the tempo had come from Vashi’s APMC market. When the driver was questioned he revealed that the drum was given to him by an elderly person for disposing it off. The driver was also paid '600 wage,” said Shahaji Umap, deputy commissioner of police (Zone VI).

The officials said that Patel had accompanied the driver to Shivaji Nagar while he disposed the body. Further into the probe, police found that the drum was brought to APMC in a blue tempo. The police kept a watch and after tracking down the second tempo driver, they were led to Karave Village from where the drum was first loaded.

The officials arrested Patel on Wednesday and he was brought to Shivaji Nagar police station for further questioning. He allegedly strangled the woman and concealed her body inside the drum. The police are looking for other accused who supposedly helped Patel.

“We are yet to unravel the motive in the crime as he is not revealing much at the moment. He will be produced in the court on Thursday and we will seek his custody for further investigation,” added Mr Umap.

Patel has been booked for murder as per the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and further probe is underway.