After botching up the investigations in the initial stages, the Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths on Monday finally claimed to have cracked the much-discussed Esther Anuhya murder case, with the arrest of a history-sheeter from Nashik.
The crime branch sleuths, who had initially investigated the murder of 23-year-old software engineer Esther Anuhya along with the Railway police, arrested Chandrabhan Sudam Sanap alias Chaukya (28), wanted in some offences in Nashik Road and other places, from Kanjur Marg in north-east Mumbai on the intervening midnight of Sunday-Monday from Kanjur Marg.
Sanap was produced before the Esplanade Magistrate Court, on Monday, which remanded him to police custody till March 15.
One of Sanap’s alleged accomplices, identified as one Nandkishore Sahu, was simultaneously picked up from his native town in Jharkhand and brought to Mumbai, where he has been placed under formal arrest. The investigators are examining Sahu’s alleged role in the crime. He is expected to be produced before a Magistrate on Tuesday.
An alcoholic and a womaniser, Sanap –who is married thrice — was seen wearing the same clothes – white t-shirt and blue jeans he was last seen in the CCTV footage at the lokmanya Tilak Terminus (lTT) in Mumbai while exiting with Anuhya on January 5, when the investigators accosted him.
Given to easy life, Sanap was leading the life of a vagabond in Mumbai. Operating from the Railway stations in Mumbai, Sanap would cheat gullible people arriving in the city. He was also reportedly into lifting mobile and bags, particularly from the railway premises. He was wanted for offences in Itarsi, Nashik Road and Manmad in north Maharashtra. He was also notified as a proclaimed offender in a case by Gamdevi police station in Mumbai.
“The case was very important for us. We have finally cracked the case after nearly two months of investigations, backed by technical intelligence and solid human intelligence,” Mumbai Police chief Rakesh Maria said at a news conference here on Monday evening.