Thane student, 17, missing for three weeks found murdered; two minor classmates detained
Kasarvadavali police say two minor classmates plotted to rob the 17-year-old of his gold chain, killed him and burnt his body.
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The Kasarvadavali police in Thane have solved the murder of a 17-year-old student who went missing about three weeks ago. According to the police, two of the student's own classmates are involved, and they are accused of having planned the entire plot to rob him of a gold chain.
The case dates to September 24. That day the student left home saying he was going to meet friends, but did not return. After a long search failed to trace him, his father filed a kidnapping complaint at the Kasarvadavali police station.
The investigation found that both accused needed money. One of them wanted to buy a new bike, while the other wanted to celebrate his birthday in style. The student was wearing a gold chain, and the sight of it made the two greedy. According to the police, they planned the murder and, on the pretext of offering him a cigarette, took the student to a secluded, bushy spot in the Brahmand area.
It is alleged that he was stabbed there and brutally killed by being crushed with a stone. The body was then doused with petrol and set on fire to destroy evidence.
To mislead the police, the accused took inspiration from the film Drishyam. They threw the student's mobile phone into a moving bus so that its location kept changing and the police would be led to believe something else. One of the accused stayed in front of the police the whole time, expressing grief over his friend's disappearance. He gave the police false information that the student had gone off on a bike with an unknown man.
The police went through footage from 80 to 90 CCTV cameras in the area and also carried out technical analysis of the mobile phone. However, what the friend had said did not match any of the footage, which deepened the police's suspicion.
On October 15, the police took the suspected friend into custody again for questioning. After rigorous interrogation, he confessed to the crime before the police. The half-burnt body of the student has been recovered from the spot the accused pointed out.
Both accused are minors and have been detained. Further legal action is under way under the sections dealing with murder. The sensational crime has caused a major stir in the Thane area.
