Three held for killing man over love affair

Three persons, including an elderly man, have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 29-year-old man, whose body was found on the railway tracks in Kalyan in the district last month, police said today.

According to police, the victim, Surendra Mishra, was in a relationship with a young woman, whose father was against it and plotted his murder.

The accused were identified as the woman's father Rajendra Prasad Tiwari (47) and two others- Bhaskar Naringkar (67), a retired employee of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) and Ravi Ashok Choudhary (34), a plumber, police said.

"Mishra, a resident of Kopri and an employee of a private firm, and the woman had been in a relationship for the past seven years. Her parents were against their affair," a senior police official said.

"As the victim planned to marry the woman, her father hatched a conspiracy to kill him," he said.

In a statement given to the police, the woman said that Mishra had gone untraceable on July 14.

"The woman told the police that Mishra had been looking for a house. On July 14, he got a call on his phone while they were travelling in a local train.

"The caller informed him about a room on rent. Thereafter, the woman got down at Mulund railway station, while Mishra disembarked at Thane. After some time, he got another call from the same number and he was asked to come at Teen Haat Naka (in Thane)," the officer said.

According to police, two people met him and asked him to get into a car that took him to Kopri. After that, Mishra went untraceable. The woman said she kept calling Mishra, but as he did not respond, she called his elder brother. They launched a search, but failed to find him.

According to the officer, body of an unidentified man was found on the railway tracks at Kalyan on July 15 morning, which was later identified to be that of Mishra's, the police said.

"Based on the mobile numbers and location, two of the accused were tracked down and caught two days back, while the woman's father was arrested yesterday," the officer said.

A case of kidnapping was initially registered, but IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) were added later, police said.

The police are now on the lookout for other three to four accused involved in the crime.