CCTV footage help cops nab killer of vegetable vendor

Navi Mumbai: Had the Navi Mumbai crime branch not paid heed to small clues and pored through footage from over 150 CCTV cameras over 15 days, the murder of a vegetable vendor in Ghansoli may have remained undetected.
Registered initially as a case of accidental death on August 5, the police on August 21 arrested 23-year-old Sameer Amjeet Shaikh, a drug and alcohol addict, for the murder of 25-year-old Sushil Kumar Ramsajeevan Vind. Vind was killed after he resisted Shaikh’s attempts to rob him, suspect the police.
On August 5, at around 3am, the police received a call on their helpline (112) from two food delivery agents, who said an injured man who claimed he had been robbed was found walking along the Thane-Belapur Road near Ghansoli. A patrolling team was dispatched to the spot immediately, but they were unable to locate the person. At 7.30am the next day, however, they found a body near the spot and registered an accidental death report (ADR).
When the postmortem report the next day revealed the man had been stabbed to death, a case was registered under section 103 (1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Rabale MIDC.
“We found a piece of paper with a contact number in the shirt pocket of the deceased, which helped us ascertain his identity,” said additional commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai, Deepak Sakore.
Vind, a vegetable vendor, lived with his cousin in Mulund. He had returned to the city from his native place in Pratapgad, Uttar Pradesh on August 1 and was in Ghansoli on August 5, most likely as he wanted to buy vegetables from the APMC market to resume his business, said police.
With no eyewitness in the case, the police spent hours looking through CCTV footage of the incident spot to find some clues. Finally, they found one clip which showed a man on a scooter with dual headlights engaging with the deceased and both eventually heading towards the bushes.
“When we searched the bushes, we found slippers and blood stains barely 200 metres away from the spot where his body was found. We then decided to trace the accused using CCTV footage of the scooter,” said senior police inspector Abasaheb Patil from unit I, crime branch.
The search culminated at Koparkhairane, where Shaikh was seen meeting another person who was also on a bike. This led the police to Shaikh’s friend, who revealed his identity and told them that he had been released from a rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol addicts around three months ago. On August 21, Shaikh was arrested from his residence in Ghansoli.
Prima facie, the police suspect the murder was the result of the accused needing quick money for his addictions.
“His attempt to rob went haywire as there was a scuffle between the two and eventually Shaikh, stabbed the victim on the chest. Terrified and injured, he ran along the road seeking help, when the two food delivery agents spotted him and intimated us,” said the assistant commissioner of police (crime branch) Ajay Landge. The delivery agents had left the spot when the police team reached there, he noted, adding, “The patrolling team was unable to locate the man as he kept walking ahead and eventually collapsed at a distance.
Police have recovered the vehicle of the accused and are searching for the weapon in the murder, said officials.