Mumbai: A body of a 28-year old man was found near Mumbai-Ahmadabad Highway on January 9th. The deceased man was an illicit liquor dealer. As per a complaint lodged by his family, he was missing for a few days.
The deceased has been identified as, Deepak Bharadwaj. Deepak’s family has alleged that he was murdered by his business partner over money. They registered a first information report (FIR) on January 10 and the police have said they are on the lookout for the accused.
The family of Bharadwaj, who also worked as a tailor and delivered Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) bills, told the police he started making and selling duplicate liquor two months ago with Harishankar alias Gauri Nishad.
As per his family, he had left his residence on January 6 around 2.30 pm, and informed his wife Rekha that he is going with Harishankar to Virar to buy raw material to make liquor.
Deepak called his wife at around 6 pm, which is suspected to be his last phone call, and informed her he would be home within an hour. However, he did not return and his phone was switched off that night and remained unreachable.
The next day, Deepak’s brother Jitendra, logged a complainant in the case, went to look for him at Harishankar’s house but found it locked. The neighbors told Jitendra that Harishankar had left along with two men on the previous night.
Bharadwaj’s family then filed a missing complaint with the Boisar police station the same day. Meanwhile, they also tried reaching out to Harishankar, but his phone was switched off.
“We are searching for the accused,” said Suresh Varhade, senior police inspector of Virar police station.
According to the FIR, Harishankar called Deepak’s wife Rekha on January 8 and said he had been arrested by the police in Thane and would be behind bars for two to three months. He also told her he did not have any information about her husband.
On January 9, a group of nine to ten men known to Deepak along with his brothers started looking for him in Virar, but could not find him. While they were on their way back to Boisar, they spotted an ambulance with a police team in the Sakwar village on the Mumbai-Ahmadabad highway.
On looking up they found that the body was of Deepak. The body was sent for post mortem. They lodged an FIR for murder on January 10 at the Virar police station.
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