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The Ulhasnagar crime branch on Wednesday unraveled the mystery behind the disappearance of a 39-year-old woman from Ulhasnagar with the arrest of her husband’s friend.
According to police sources, the deceased, Rani Sukheja (39), left her Ulhasnagar residence on the morning of December 4 last year, informing her husband Kishore that she was going to attend a satsang. However, when she never returned, Mr Sukheja filed a missing person’s complaint.
An officer with the crime branch said, “We were conducting parallel inquiries into the matter, and last week received a tip-off about a garage mechanic who was telling his friends about seeing something suspicious. We tracked him down and questioned him. He told us that on the day that Rani went missing, he was called to Khadavli to repair a Maruti Van, and the driver had what looked like fresh blood on his clothes at the time.”
The police then traced the man in question, later identified as Dilip Megani (28), who turned out to be an old friend of Mr Sukheja’s. He confessed to have killed Rani, after which he took away her jewellery and dumped her body in a forest in Kumbharpada. Later, he sold the jewellery and the van used in the crime, and was assisted by his friend Sanny Madnani (48).
“Megani was having an affair with Rani, and she had started blackmailing him for money. Fed up of the threats, he decided to kill her and enlisted Madnani’s aid,” said Machindra Chavan, senior inspector, Ulhasnagar crime branch.
