Industrial unit's owner, employee arrested in murder case

With the arrest of two persons including the owner of an industrial unit, Thane police on Saturday claimed to have solved the murder of a 40-year-old man.

The body of Shekar Pillai, resident of Bhandup in Mumbai, was found in Wagle Industrial Estate here in May this year.

Grijesh Singh (50), who owns a manufacturing unit in Savarkar Nagar, and his employee Pramod Gupta (38) were arrested in the case two days ago, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Bajirao Bhosle.

Pillai had sold a lathe machine to Grijesh Singh and the latter owed him Rs 3.5 lakh for the machine, the ACP said.

Pillai was asking Singh to settle the payment for some time. Fed up with it, Singh allegedly decided to kill him, and strangulated Pillai at his workshop with the help of Gupta on the night of May 30, the police officer said.

The body was stuffed into a gunny sack and dumped onto Road No 21 in Wagle Estate next morning.

Police ascertained identity of the deceased after going through a missing persons list in Mumbai area and conducting DNA tests, ACP Bhosle said.

Both Singh and Gupta were arrested two days ago and remanded in police custody till September 21, he said, adding that further probe is on.