Navi Mumbai: In shocking revelation that the police have unearthed behind the missing men from Nerul who were found dead later, it has been found that one of the victims himself is the main accused in the murder. Sumit Jain (39) and Aamir Khanzada (42), both residents of Nerul who went missing on August 21 night were later found dead on August 23 and on Wednesday, respectively. The investigating authorities have finally concluded that Jain was the one who had assigned contract killers to kill Khanzada and injure him to show that he too was attacked by the assailants but ended up dying.
After the missing report of the duo was registered with Nerul police on August 22, the police first found the abandoned car in Khalapur with bullet marks and body of Jain on August 23 in the bushes in Pen Taluka. In the investigations, the police had found an abandoned two-wheeler at sector 4, Nerul wherein Jain resided.
Sumit Jain And Aamir Khanzada
“It was found that the two men who was with Jain on August 21 whom Khanzada had picked to go for a meeting, had left their bike there. The bike was a stolen bike from Ambernath. We then tried to trace who had stolen the bike and while checking the cctv footage, we found an Ertiga car which was involved in the bike theft and the car belonged to another realtor identified as Vitthal Baban Nakade (43) from Kanjurmarg,” a police officer privy to the investigations said.
Press conference
With this finding, the police made first arrest on August 26 of Nakade following which they also nabbed Anand alias Andry Rajan Cruz (39) from Nerul, Virendra alias Gorya Bharat Kadam (24) from Kanjurmarg and Ankush alias Ankya Prakash Sitapure alias Sitaphe (35) from Ulhasnagar. Later, on Tuesday police arrested Jaysingh alias Raja Madhu Mudaliyar (38) from Badlapur. It was after the arrested of Mudaliyar, that he finally confessed about where the body of Khanzada was dumped and the police finally found it from the forest area of Karnala Sanctuary.
Karnala sanctuary area wherein the body of Khanzada was found
Once all the arrests were made, the police found that the murder was planned due to a dispute between Nakade, Jain and Khanzada about a 3.5 acre plot in Pali, Raigad. “A plot that belonged to a man who had died in Covid was sold by Nakade after Jain helped him make forged documents of the plot and arranged for a dummy owner of the plot. Khanzada and Jain were partners but the amount earned out of this dealing was not shared with Khanzada. The plot was sold for Rs 3.50 crore of which Rs 60 lakh was paid and it was distributed amongst Nakade, Jain and the dummy plot owner. Khanzade had been demanding his share in the deal which Jain was hesitant of giving and hence he wanted to get rid of him. Jain approached Nakade with the plan of eliminating Khanzada,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime branch) Ajay Landge said.
Nakade then approached Mudaliyar and Rehan who is still absconding with a contract to kill Khanzada. “The contract was finalized for RS 50 lakh which Jain was to pay. The initial payment of Rs 1.50 lakh was made before the killing. On August 21, Jain asked Khanzada to pick him up along with two of his friends who were to accompany for a deal meeting. After reaching at sector 4, the duo- Mudaliyar and the absconding accused- who were present with Jain, shot him two rounds and killed. Then, they drove Khanzada’s car to Karnala and dumped the body there,” Additional Commissioner Deepak Sakore said.
Meanwhile, Jain too shot a round on himself on his right knee. “The plan was that Jain would say that some assailants killed Khanzada and injured him and abandoned at Khalapur. But on the way, after the body of Khanzada was dumped, Jain paid Rs 3.50 lakh to Mudaliyar. The two shooters demanded for the rest of the money as per the deal and they had a fight over the same. Irked Mudaliyar, stabbed Jain on his left thigh and due to excessive bleeding, he died after which they dumped the body in the bushes at Pen,” Deputy Commissioner of POlice (Zone I) Pankaj Dahane said.
As per the post mortem report, the cause of death of Jain is supposed to be hemorrhage and shock caused due to firearm injury and multiple stab injury. The body of Jain was partially decomposed and hence has been sent to JJ Hospital for postmortem. According to the accused, two rounds were shot at Khanzada, who is also President of NCP party from Raigad district.
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“We are investigating the case further to find the absconding accused and the firearm used in the case. All the arrested accused are hardened criminals who have previous criminal records of cheating and murder. Mudaliyar was previously arrested in two contract killing cases as well,” senior police inspector Brahmananda Naikwadi from Nerul police station said. All the accused are in police custody till August 31.
