A day after a 21-year-old woman was arrested by the Dahisar police for allegedly brutally murdering her 26-year-old neighbour, hiding her body, and later misleading the police, the accused was produced before a court, which remanded her in police custody till February 18.
A day after a 21-year-old woman was arrested by the Dahisar police for allegedly brutally murdering her 26-year-old neighbour, hiding her body, and later misleading the police, the accused was produced before a court, which remanded her in police custody till February 18.
The accused, Ujwala Veer, had a tiff with the deceased, Preeti Bhagekar, who was three months' pregnant, after Veer failed to return the Rs20,000 she had borrowed from Preeti's husband Prashant, a driver. Further investigations revealed that Veer had been in a relationship with Prashant in the past.
Inspector Uday Rajeshirke said, "During interrogation, she told us that she was jobless and had no money, and her relatives had apparently abandoned her. She wanted to get back with Prashant. Although the tiff over money was the trigger, she was always angry at Preeti and was keen to get rid of her."
The accused lived in the same neighbourhood as the victim in the Kajupada area with her ailing mother, who is paralysed. Although there is no evidence of Prashant's involvement in the crime, the police have not ruled out the possibility of it as he and Preeti fought frequently over his past affair with Veer, said officers.
The alleged murder happened on Wednesday afternoon, when Preeti had gone over to Veer's house to take back the money she owed Prashant. The women got into a heated argument and an enraged Veer strangulated Preeti with a rope, then slashed her throat with a blade and hit her on the head with an iron rod. She hid the body inside a box bed and sat on it for a few hours. Veer then cut her own wrist and later told Prashant that an unknown assailant assaulted them and kidnapped Preeti.
Meanwhile, Veer's sister, who had dropped by for a visit, found something amiss and called the police. Veer misled the police saying a person in the neighbourhood attacked her, threatened to kill them and kidnapped Preeti.
The police sent teams to nab the unknown man from an address given by the accused. They realised that no such person existed, and upon further questioning, Veer is said to have confessed to the crime on Thursday. The police found the body and arrested the accused immediately on charges of murder, destruction of evidence and giving false information, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
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