Three more held for beheading man

The city police have arrested three more persons in connection with the beheading of a man on the suspicion of practising witchcraft, an official said on Wednesday.

With this, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to five, DCP (Zone I), S S Burse, told reporters.

The headless body of Vishnu Kisan Nagare (45), a resident of Pimpri in Dahisar, was found near a quarry in Thakurpada area in the district on Friday morning, following which a case was registered with Shil Daighar police station.

The probe had led to the arrest of Nagare's nephew Amit Nagare (19) and his accomplice Amar Sharma (22) on Saturday, he said, adding that police were looking for three others.

According to police, Amit's father was allegedly murdered in Buldhana in central Maharashtra in 2016 and he suspected that Nagare had performed black magic, which led to his father's death. In order to eliminate his uncle, Amit allegedly hatched a conspiracy.

"Accordigly, on November 14, the accused invited the victim to have liquor with them. After a few drinks, they beheaded him and packed his body in a plastic bag and threw it in dumping yard at Diva," Burse said.

Meanwhile, the victim's wife approched the police the next day and told them that her husband had gone missing.

The police, who had recovered the beheaded body, showed it to her, which she identified as her husband's. During the probe, police also recovered the victim's head of from the dumping yard in Diva.

The other three accused have been identified as Nihal Handore (21), Avinash Wankhede (22) and Shubham Dhabale (19), police said.

Further investigation is on.