MUMBAI: After 13 years of being on the run from police in a murder case involving his own brother-in-law, the accused fell into the dragnet of the crime branch, whose officers arrested him in Delhi and brought him to the city.
The accused, Govind Kumar Harak Choudhary, 34, had allegedly killed his brother-in-law and mutilated his private parts on May 28, 2012 at a rented apartment in Navghar, Bhayander East. Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police at that time found the victim, Sureshkumar Surya Narayan Choudhary, 35, strangled to death with an iron wire and his mouth gagged with an adhesive tape. There were injury marks on his head and face meted out with an iron pestle, cut marks on his face, chest, abdomen and hands inflicted with a cutter knife, and his private parts were severely mutilated.
After registering a case of murder against an unidentified person, MBVV police started their investigation and found out that the victim, who worked in a factory in Bhayander, stayed with his brother-in-law Govind Kumar Harak Choudhary. The wives of the victim and Govind are sisters, who stayed in a village of Bihar.
What caused the police to suspect Govind was that he went missing from the night of the murder. The police kept on looking for him, sending teams to his village but drew a blank. They also kept his wife’s phone on surveillance, but could not trace any call to Govind.
Inspector Pramod Badhak, attached to Unit 1 of the MBVV crime branch, said that when they started the investigation of the cold case, they began keeping a close watch on Govind’s relatives and their phone activities. Recently, they found that one of the relatives had been getting frequent calls from Delhi.
They traced the number and found out that the SIM was in use in Naya Bazaar, Delhi. On further investigation, they got to know that the SIM was being used by Govind, who had been staying and working for a rice vendor in Naya Bazaar.
On Sunday, a team of crime branch officers went to Delhi and apprehended Govind.
During his interrogation, Govind told the police that he suspected that Chaudhary had an affair with his wife. Hence, he confronted Choudhary which led to a physical fight. According to Govind, it was then that he decided to kill Choudhary, and strangled him with the iron wire and mutilated his private parts.
“We have arrested Govind and have handed him over to the Navghar police for further investigation,” inspector Badhak said.