Chits strewn in wild grass lead cops to murderers

PUNE: A few chits with names and telephone numbers found on an open plot on the hillock near Kishkindhanagar in Kothrud led police to a decomposed body of a man and helped them arrest two suspects.

On Tuesday evening a labourer, working on the plot, noticed a decomposed body of a man lying in the grass with the head smashed in with a big stone, Prem Waghmore, sub-inspector of the Kothrud police station, said.

Waghmore added that when the police team arrived it was almost dark. "The body had started decomposing. We checked the pockets of his trousers and shirt, but found nothing," Waghmore said.

The body was sent for a post-mortem. The team searched the plot for clues. "We found a stone weighing about 10 kg, used in the murder. But we were not able to ascertain the man's identity," Waghmore added.

On Wednesday, the team went back to the crime scene where they found several pieces of paper. "We checked each and every paper. We also scoured the other plots on the hillock, where I found a few chits on which some names and cellphone numbers were written," he said .

The chits were wet, but after drying them he could read the names and the numbers jotted on them. "We tried two numbers on two chits, but did not get any response," Waghmore said.

The third number was of a woman teacher. "She told us that about four days ago she had contacted a furniture shop located on Bajirao Road and had told the owner to send a carpenter for some work to her house. She also told us that the man did not turn up and she had been waiting for him."

Waghmore said the woman shared the number of the shop owner. "When we contacted the owner he told us that one of his employees Karan Verma (23) has been missing since July 17. He had lodged a missing person's complaint at the Faraskhana police station," Waghmore said.

He said that the owner was summoned to the hospital, who ascertained the murdered man as Karan Verma. "The police team then collected information about Verma," Waghmore said.

Police got information that on Sunday night Verma had gone to Budhwar Peth where he had entered into a brawl with a few persons. "We also got a tip-off that they were from Kothrud," Waghmore said.

They arrested Ashutosh Palkhe (20) of Jaibhavaninagar in Kothrud, while the crime branch arrested Nikhil Gole (21) of Kishkindhanagar.

"The third suspect, who is on the run, has four cases registered against him. We want him externed," he said.

After the fight Verma and the trio had brawled. the trio forced him on a motorcycle and then brought him on the hillock in Kothrud. "They bludgeoned him to death with the big stone and dumped his body in the grass on the plot," Waghmore said.

Karan Verma was working as carpenter for the last five years in the city. He had married about a year ago.

Verma's wife is staying at his native place in Uttar Pradesh, police said.