Nagpur: Lakadganj police and Crime Branch jointly cracked a mysterious murder case and nabbed the accused after a painstaking investigation.
According to details, a person named Manoj Ramdas Waman (40) used to cleaning job at Lakadganj-based Khante Country Liquor Brewery. He used to sleep at nearby place in the night. On March 17 around 11 pm, Manoj went to sleep at the shed of nearby Pritam Turning Wood Furniture shop.
However, the next day (March 18) morning Manoj was found murdered with his head smashed by a blunt object. On the basis of a complaint lodged by Pramod Lalji Sakure (38), who runs a tea stall at the spot, Lakadganj cops registered an offence (No. 100/16) under Section 302 and started a probe.
As a part of investigation, the Lakadganj police first procured CCTV footage from the nearby saw mill. The footage showed that the witness Prakash Butelkar (Langda) having a wordy duel with the suspect person. The footage also showed the deceased Manoj coming at the spot and intervening in the wordy duel. The deceased Manoj also slapped 2-3 times to the suspect person. Later, the same suspect was seen carrying a stone and coming to the spot where Manoj was sleeping. The suspect person hit Manoj repeatedly with the stone, showed the footage. Subsequently, cops questioned a few persons at the spot and two of them told police that the deceased Manoj and the suspect person had indulged in a brawl the night before the incident. The print of CCTV footage was shown to the people that led to identity of the suspect person as Santosh who was working as a watchman at a nearby Manchalwar Timber Mill. However, the suspect Santosh went absconding even before the cops could nab him. His absconding made him the certain suspect in the murder case.
Further in-depth probe revealed the address of the suspect Santosh as Mukundi Khapri, Taluka Dongargaon, District Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh). A squad of Lakadganj police was immediately dispatched to the place but the team had to return empty handed as the suspect Santosh had gone underground. Thereafter, the murder investigation was handed over to Crime Branch. The Crime Branch formed a squad led by API Amol Kale. The squad immediately went on a hot pursuit of suspect Santosh and it tasted success, too. The Crime Branch sleuths succeeded in nabbing the suspect Santosh from Dipti Signal area of the city. A sustained questioning led to confession by Santosh in the murder of Manoj.
During questioning, Santosh told cops that the deceased Manoj Waman frequently asked him for mutton treat, liquor. For many a time, Santosh treated the deceased Manoj with mutton and liquor. On the day before the incident, as usual Manoj asked Santosh to serve the stuff but Santosh refused. The refusal left deceased Manoj fuming and he hurled choicest abuses on Santosh. The unnecessary abusing also left Santosh raging. Moreover, slapping at the hands of deceased Manoj the day before when he and witness Prakash Butelkar (Langda) were having a wordy duel hit the last nail on the minds of boiling Santosh. Out of this furious anger, Santosh decided to get rid of Manoj, albeit in a brutal way. He killed Manoj by smashing his head with the help of a stone.
After the confession, the accused Santosh Mandhir Devdas (53) was booked under Section 302 of IPC and placed under arrest.
