Murder accused held after 6 years

A 21-year-old bar dancer was allegedly murdered by her husband by setting her on fire in 2010. However, an assistant police inspector was able to trace and arrest the accused only last week using details of a debit card found back in 2010.

Puja Gazi (21) used to work at a bar in Thane where she met and later married her husband and accused, Jitendra Yadav (31), who served there as a waiter. Post marriage, Yadav did not like the fact that Puja continued to work at the bar and the couple had regular fights over this issue. Ultimately, on May 2, 2010, Yadav allegedly set Puja on fire by pouring kerosene on her. Puja was rushed to Thane Civil Hospital with 99 per cent burns where she succumbed to her injuries. Since then, Yadav had been absconding.

According to API Shivaji Chawan of Kapurbawdi police station, the case remained unsolved for several years. “After I got the file, I re-started the investigation in which I found the debit card of 2010 which was recovered in a spot punchnama. Following the clue of the debit card, we received the number of the accused’s relative. We started our investigations that took us to the Naxal affected area of Jharkhand; from there, we got further information on him.”

Joint commissioner of police, Ashutosh Dumbre said, “There was too much of workload but we kept trying and finally our efforts have paid off.”