The death of a 46-yearold man from Thane’s Azad Nagar in what was thought to be a road accident has turned out to be a murder. Ramji Sharma, hit by a speeding car while on his morning walk on November 18, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. The Kasarwadavli police, probing the mishap, have now arrested his former lover and her boyfriend.
The woman, a 45-year-old married mother of 5 with a string of affairs, has confessed to police that she plotted the murder with her boyfriend Jaiprakash Chouhan (32), a driver with an app cab firm, as she was tired of Sharma’s pestering. The duo thought they could pass it off as a mishap. But Chouhan’s quick repair of his car and Sharma’s son’s mention of his exlover helped crack the case.
At the heart of the conspiracy is a 45-year-old housewife with five children. She had several relationships, and when an old lover began pestering her, she merely asked her 32-year-old boyfriend, a driver, to mow down the man.
At dawn on November 18, Ramji Sharma, 46, a resident of Azad Nagar, was taking a walk when a speeding car rammed into him and escaped. Sharma succumbed to his injuries over a month later on Wednesday, said DCP Sunil Lokhande.
Sumari Yadav, whose husband has a shop in Azad Nagar, and Jaiprakash Chouhan, who drives for an app cab firm, have been arrested. A murder and conspiracy charge has been added to that of rash driving.
After the accident, senior inspector Datta Dhole and inspector Nasir Kulkarni were alerted by two issues: how quickly the man had repaired the car, and Sharma’s son’s casual reference to the fact that his father used to talk for hours to his lover, but days before the accident they hardly spoke.
Days after the accident, based on a tip-off, they found the car. “To their surprise, they saw it had already been repaired, with the side mirror and fog lamp replaced, and the denting fixed and new painting, which raised doubts,” said a police officer.
Checking the victim’s phone, they found Yadav’s number. “We got the woman’s number, and after analyzing her call records, we found most of the calls were made to Sharma and Chouhan around the time of the incident,” said the officer. She was called for questioning.
Yadav could not give proper answers, and soon a shocking sequence of events was revealed. Sharma, who was in an illicit relationship with her, was pestering her. He even followed her and her husband during morning walks. Fed up, Yadav is believed to have plotted with Chouhan, her boyfriend, to bump Sharma off and pass it off as an accident, said police.
Chouhan kept a watch on Sharma’s routine for a few days and ran him over on November 18. Chouhan had left his rented house to avoid lenders seeking repayment and used to sleep in the car. Sources said his wife had come down and was living with her, but Yadav, who has a daughter-in-law, had a fight with her and told her to go away. Sensing trouble, Chouhan fled to UP but was picked up recently.