Mumbai:
With the arrest of two men, police today claimed to have cracked the murder a 69-year-old businessman, within a day of the incident coming to light.
Maheshchandra Bafna was found dead at his godown in suburban Khar on Monday morning. Robbery was the motive behind the murder, police said.
The accused Asif Ali Khan (20), a tailor, and his associate Nazim Abeed Khan (19), were apprehended and handed over to Khar police, which placed them under arrest yesterday, said Crime Branch Senior Inspector Sanjay Satardekar.
The duo allegedly killed Bafna on Sunday night and dumped his body in the godown located adjoining a shop owned by him, Satardekar added.
The body, lying in a pool of blood and bearing strangulation marks, was found the next morning. Bafna resided with his wife in the vicinity. A murder and robbery case has been registered, police said.
Crime Branch officials, who were carrying out a parallel investigation, received a tip-off that Asif was on his way to Uttar Pradesh.
A police team acted swiftly and intercepted Asif on Monday. During interrogation, Asif confessed that he and Nazim killed the elderly man and made off with cash and high-end mobile phones. Subsequently, Nazim was picked up from suburban Bandra, they said.
Asif and Nazim had sought a meeting with Bafna ostensibly to discuss business dealings. When the senior citizen arrived, the duo attacked him with an iron rod and strangled him with a nylon rope, police said.
The two subsequently got hold of the shop's keys and three mobile phones from Bafna's pocket. They went to the businessman's shop, from where they stole Rs 22,000 in cash and fled.
"The two accused were arrested within 24 hours of the crime and the stolen mobile phones and Rs 21,000 in cash were were recovered from them," police added.