How a Hanuman tattoo on chopped arm helped police nab the alleged murderer

The accused brutally killed the victim and chopped his body parts before dumping them a few days later.

Thane: Days after the body parts of an unidentified man were found dumped in Navi Mumbai, police have identified the victim with the help of a tattoo on his chopped arm, and also arrested the accused for the murder, a senior official said on Thursday.

The accused, Sumitkumar Harishkumar Chouhan (27), had brutally killed Ravindra Ramesh Mandotiya (30), and chopped his body parts before dumping them a few days back, he said.

Addressing a press conference, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said that on September 12, different body parts, including two arms and legs, were found packed in a plastic bag and dumped in Navi Mumbai's Vashi APMC area. However, other parts of the body, including the head, were missing. The police registered a case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) at the APMC police station, he said.

"The police did not have much material to identify the victim, except the name 'Ravindra' and Lord Hanuman's image tattooed on one of the chopped arms. It was a challenging case. Several police teams were formed to identify the victim, to trace the accused and also find out the remaining body parts," Singh said.

The teams were sent to Thane, Raigad, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to probe the case. Details of 100 missing persons reported under the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate were analysed, he added.

"During the probe, the police came to know that one Ravindra Mandotiya, a sweeper, has gone missing from his house and a complaint had been registered in this regard at Koparkhairne police station. His family members were called to identify the victim and the chopped arm with the tattoo was shown to them. They confirmed that the body parts were that of Mandotiya," he added.

Thereafter, the police worked on several leads and went through the CCTV footage, among other things, and nabbed Chouhan, the commissioner said.

"During his interrogation, Chouhan told the police there was a monetary dispute between him and the victim. As part of his plan to eliminate Mandotiya, Chouhan slit his throat on September 9 and later cut his body into several pieces. He packed these parts in a plastic bag and dumped in the APMC area, while head and some other parts were buried in Mahape area," another police official said.

Police later recovered the remaining body parts.

The police official said that the accused, who was arrested on September 14, was produced before a local court, which remanded him into police custody till September 22.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Vashi division) Vinayak Vast told reporters that the police were trying to find out if any more persons were involved in this crime.