Thane: Retired prison staffer killed over money, body buried near dam

A retired prison staffer was killed over money and his body was buried in a marshy patch near a dam in Maharashtra’s Thane district following which police have arrested two persons, said an official.

Victim Ashok Mohite (63), went missing after he stepped out for a walk on the afternoon of April 12, Subash Burse, deputy commissioner of police - zone IV, Ulhasnagar, told reporters on Wednesday. His family then filed a missing complaint at the Badlapur West police station.

Two days later, Mohite’s family got a message that Rs 25,000 had been debited from his bank account, the official said. They found out that the money was credited to the account of one Mahadu Valkoli (42), a tenant in the same building where Mohite lived, he said.

Mohite’s family informed police that he had lost a cheque a few months back and the debit details carried the same cheque number. They also found that Rs 2.03 lakh had been debited from Mohite’s account in the recent past, said the official. The family told police that Mohite used to talk to Valkoli.

Police suspected Valkoli’s role in the matter after it was found that he too had gone missing since Mohite’s disappearance but used to call the victim’s son and the building watchman and ask them if Mohite was back, said the official.

Working on various inputs, police detained Valkoli from Murbad. During his interrogation, it was revealed that Mohite had lent Rs 2.03 lakh to Valkoli and had been demanding the money back, he said.

To get rid of Mohite, Valkoli called the former to Devdhar dam near Badlapur on the pretext of giving him medicine for his asthma, said the official. Valkoli and his friend Laxman Jadhav then killed Mohite and buried the body in a marshy patch, he said, adding that police have recovered Mohite’s ATM card from Valkoli.