Navi Mumbai: 19-Year-Old Girl Strangled by Boyfriend in Kharghar, Later Commits Suicide

A 19-year-old girl from Kalamboli who went missing on December 12, 2023 after she left home for her college in Sion in Mumbai was found murdered on January 16 at Kharghar. The decomposed body was found after Navi Mumbai police spent a week using drones and help from the forest department. The girl identified as Vaishnavi Babar, 19, a resident of sector 1 in Kalamboli was murdered by her boyfriend by strangulation on December 12 at Kharghar Hill. Later on the same day, the accused boy friend identified as Vaibhaw Burungale, 24, committed suicide by jumping on the railway track near Jui Nagar station. A case of accidental death was registered at Vashi Railway police station.

According to police, on December 12, 2023, the victim girl Babar left home at 10.30 am for her college in Sion. She was a first year B.Com at SIES College in Sion. However, she did not return by evening and the family registered a missing person complaint at Kalamboli police station. The police investigated the case but did not get through the missing complaint. Taking the matter seriously, the police commissioner Milind Bharambe formed a special team under the crime branch to trace the girl and the case was transferred to Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Navi Mumbai police. During the technical analysis, the police found that the mobile location of both the victim Vaishnavi and accused Vaibhav was found at Kharghar Hill around 4 pm. When the police checked the mobile number of the accused, they found that he committed suicide on the same day at Jui Nagar station and an ADR was registered with Vashi railway police. 

The Crime Branch took the mobile phone from Vashi railway police and carried out technical analysis of the phone. They found a suicide note where he mentioned that he murdered his girlfriend and mentioned the location in code word L01-501. Amit Kale, DCP Crime said that they tried a lot to crack the code but they failed. “We sought help from the Forest Department and CIDCO,” said Kale. He added that from January 7 to January 15, they spent around 12 hours a day searching for the body in Kharghar Hill using drones.Finally, the police cracked the code with the help of the Forest Department and found it had a Tree Census number. “We reached the spot and found a decomposed body of a girl similar to the missing girl around 8 to 10 feet away from the tree number Lo1-501 on January 16 morning,” said Kale. Later the family of the girl identified the body.  Kale said that both were having an affair for around three to four years. However, recently the girl stopped responding to the accused and also blocked his number. “After returning from the college, they both went to Kharghar Hill where the accused strangulated the girl and later committed suicide,’ said Kale. Another police official, part of the investigation team, said that the accused had planned to murder her in October and also decided the place. “It was a brutal murder as while strangulating the victim, the accused, it would be little pain we would meet in the next life,” said the official. Interestingly, the victim mentioned all these in the suicide notes that he typed in the notepad in the mobile. “Before committing suicide, on the screen, the accused mentioned that after his death whoever get the mobile to handover to either his family or police,” said the police official.