Man held for theft is charged with murder

MUMBAI: Ravindra Kantrulle, arrested earlier on charges of theft, has now been charged with the murder of a 35-year-old man in south Mumbai last month, police said on Tuesday.

"After verifying the details, we have arrested him for the murder of a 35-year-old man on January 11," Brijesh Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) said.

The body of the 35-year-old unidentified man was found near an overbridge with multiple stab-injuries at south Mumbai's Azad Maidan on January 11.

Singh refused to specify whether Kantrulle, alleged to have committed multiple murders in the south Mumbai area, had been charged with any of them.

Kantrulle was arrested by the police in a case of theft from the Dhobi Talao area in south Mumbai last month after four unsolved murders in the area fuelled reports that a serial killer was on the loose.

Blood stained clothes were allegedly recovered from Kantrulle and he was later sent to Bangalore for conducting scientific tests like brain mapping, the results of which have not been revealed by the police.

Kantrulle was produced before a local court which has remanded him to police custody till February 20.