Cross quizzing of aides nailed tough nut kingpin, cemented ‘last seen’ footage clue

Nagpur: Intense cross-examination of suspects finally cracked the tough nut kingpin Jai Yadav and unearthed the ransom-driven kidnapping-and-murder of 14-year-old Atharva Nanore early Monday.Ayush Shahu and Kunal Shahu, named by Jai as his accomplices, walked straight into the trap carefully set by the wily crime branch. The interrogators told the two Sahus that Jai had already unravelled the sequence of events and confessed. Believing the police statement, Ayush and Kunal spilled the beans, giving detailed accounts of the crime. However, when their versions were pitted against Jai's statements, glaring inconsistencies emerged.The two Shahus gave similar versions of events, which directly exposed Jai's repeated lies and shifting narratives. This breakthrough ultimately nailed the mastermind, who misled investigators for hours. The confessions of the Sahus also buttressed police's ‘last seen theory', in which CCTV footage recorded at 9.53 pm played a critical role in busting the crime. The footage clearly showed Jai walking with Atharva in a lane near Gittikhadan during the Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra.Police focused on Jai from the beginning as the boy was last seen with him for a prolonged period and at different places, despite other suspects being present.Jai was rounded up by Gittikhadan police but managed to dodge initial questioning. Later, he misled the crime branch team for nearly four hours with inconsistent statements.Alongside the last seen theory, cellphone tower analysis proved decisive. Jai's mobile location data placed him in Koradi — the actual murder site — even though the festival was underway in Gittikhadan. He repeatedly changed his version regarding his presence there and initially named several others whose tower locations did not match. Finally, he named Ayush Shahu and Kunal Shahu, who were picked up in the early hours of Monday. Their cellphone records corroborated their presence in Koradi.Jai wanted the ransom money to settle his debts, meet urgent expenses and expand his business, said police. He planned to take the bulk of the share and distribute the remaining money between Ayush and Kunal.Police also focused on a close relative whose cell phone tower location was in Mahurzari, close to the spot of Bharatwada ring road railway overbridge where the body was found. But the last seen theory, backed by the decisive 9.53 pm CCTV footage, ultimately prevailed.