Mumbai, March 13 (IANS) Two individuals were arrested by the Vanrai Police for allegedly murdering a homeless scrap collector, following a dispute over the division of money earned from selling scrap. One of the accused is a resident of Haryana. Both accused were produced before a court, which remanded them to four days of police custody.

According to police officials, information was received about an unidentified man lying unconscious near Hanuman Tekri in Goregaon. The injured man was immediately taken to Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari East for treatment. However, doctors declared him dead upon examination.

Initially, the Vanrai Police registered a case under the Accidental Death Report (ADR) category. During the preliminary inquiry, police noticed severe injuries on the victim’s head, which raised suspicions about the cause of death. Since the deceased did not possess any identification documents, his identity remained unknown for some time.

To identify the victim, the police formed two investigation teams and circulated photographs of the deceased among scrap collectors in the Goregaon-Dahisar belt. Police reportedly showed the photographs to nearly 50 to 70 scrap collectors in the area. Eventually, some of them identified the deceased as Azhar, who used to collect scrap along with two associates, Suresh alias “Kaliya” and Salim alias “Nepali.”

Police officials found that both Suresh and Salim had been missing since the day of the incident, which further strengthened suspicion against them.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report from the hospital confirmed that Azhar’s death was caused by injuries sustained during an assault. Based on the report, the police registered a case of murder against unknown persons and launched a search operation.

During the investigation, police traced and detained Suresh alias “Kaliya” from Haryana. During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to the crime and revealed that he, along with his associate Salim alias “Nepali,” had murdered Azhar after a dispute over the division of money earned from selling scrap.

According to police, the accused repeatedly struck Azhar on the head with a stone during the argument, leading to his death. Following Suresh’s confession, the second accused, Salim alias “Nepali,” was arrested from the Pathanwadi area of Malad.

–IANS

jk/mr