2 men arrested for tribal woman's murder in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai: Pen police in Raigad have detected the murder case of a 35-year-old tribal woman by arresting two accused men within 24 hours of registering an FIR. The duo accused have claimed that they demanded sexual favours from her and as she refused, they smothered her. However, the police are awaiting the victim's post-mortem report to ascertain whether she was sexually assaulted by the duo accused.

The victim woman, identified as Ambi Janya Jadhav, residing in Bhonguli tribal hamlet, was found dead with injuries inflicted on her face and lying semi-naked in the forest area near Shitole tribal hamlet in Pen taluka, Raigad, along the Mumbai-Goa highway on Monday, June 8, around 11 am. The arrested accused are Ramavatar Kevat and Sunil Vishwakarma, both hailing from MP and working at a stone crusher site in Mungoshi village, Pen taluka.

Sandeep Bagul, senior inspector of Pen, informed that the deceased woman, after being taken to Alibaug Civil Hospital, the doctors prima facie claimed her death was due to asphyxia by smothering as there was no strangulation mark on her neck. Hence, her post-mortem was referred to Panvel sub-district hospital to ascertain her actual cause of death. As the victim was found semi-naked, the post-mortem report will confirm whether she was sexually assaulted. If confirmed, BNS section for the offence of sexual assault will be invoked against the arrested accused.

Bagul said, "From technical analysis of the mobile dump data at the crime scene, a suspect mobile number was zeroed in. The SIM card was registered in the name of Bhanudas Deokar, hailing from Yavatmal district and currently residing in Vaishet village, Alibaug. He was detained for inquiry, when he claimed that he gave his SIM card to Ramavatar Kevat, who was his previous co-worker and he was currently working at some stone crusher site in Pen taluka. Accordingly, all stone crusher sites were checked and Kevat was detained from Mungoshi stone crusher site on Tuesday morning. When grilled during inquiry, he confessed that he and his friend had killed the woman after she refused to have sex with them and they dumped her body in the forest area."

Bagul said, "The victim woman was estranged from her husband and has two children, who stay with her parents at another tribal hamlet. As she stayed alone, she used to roam around other tribal hamlets and stayed wherever she was offered food. Last week, she visited her maternal house. On Sunday, she went to the market for buying groceries, where the duo accused spotted her. They approached her for sexual favours, which she refused. While she was returning to her mother's house, the accused followed her and waylaid her on the isolated road. As they again demanded sex and she refused, the duo men assaulted her face and as she shouted for help, they smothered her and dumped her body in the forest area."