Bhiwandi: A 30-year-old-man en route to Vijayapura, Karnataka, travelling with the body of a 24-year-old woman in ambulance was apprehended by the Bhiwandi police on Saturday after the woman’s friend raised an alarm on not finding her at home.
The accused who was reportedly in a relationship with the deceased, identified as Kavita Madar, strangled her after a fight on Friday afternoon. The accused reportedly hired an ambulance and faking her death as accident, was on his way to Karnataka to dispose of her body, the police said. The Pune police stopped the vehicle at the toll.
“Our team immediately found the number of ambulance and traced its location to Pune. We alerted Pune police about the same who held the ambulance at the toll plaza and sent the body for post-mortem. By that time our team reached Pune. On Friday evening we got a post-mortem report which showed that the death was due to strangulation. We immediately arrested the accused and brought him to Bhiwandi. Further investigation is going on,” senior police inspector Chetan Kakad of Bhiwandi city police said.
Madar lived in Bhiwandi and did odd jobs. Her grandmother lived in Karnataka. She met the accused Saddam Sayyed, 30, two years ago and the two began to live together. However, Sayyed’s family did not approve of their relationship and the two fought over the issue, Madar’s friend told the police.
The two would also fight over Madar’s alleged alcoholism, the police said. On Thursday, Madar reportedly came home drunk, which led to a fight between the couple, following which Sayyed allegedly strangled her to death at their home in Hanuman Nagar.
“The accused after committing the murder wrapped her in blanket, booked an ambulance and planned to take her to her native place. He called her grandmother and said that the deceased had died in a road accident and he was bringing the body. The grandmother did not think that anything was amiss but she called Madar’s friend and informed her about the call. The friend reached the accused’s house, but he had left by then,” a police official said.
The friend called accused over the phone, and since he did not give any proper response to her questions, she immediately alerted the Bhiwandi city police.