Vasai-Virar turning dumping ground... for dead bodies

The drum in which a man’s body was stuffed and dumped on Vajreshwari Road on Thursday

Absent or dim lights on roads and too few CCTV cameras have made Vasai-Virar a hotspot for criminals from nearby districts and neighbouring Gujarat to dump bodies. Police found the bodies of a woman and a man in the area last week.

A decomposed body of an unidentified woman, in her mid-20s, was found near an under-construction site of a jetty in Virar East. A nylon rope was wrapped around her neck and a stone weighing about 12 kg was tied to its other end. Arnala Coastal police sent the body for autopsy.

"The body was decomposed. After the post-mortem, we learnt that she had died of strangulation. She did not die of drowning. Food particles were found in her stomach," Dr Rugved Dudhat, a medical officer at a government hospital in Virar, said. "There was a butterfly tattoo on her left wrist. There were also a few old marks of contusions on her hands."

A police team at the under-construction jetty site where a woman's body was found on Saturday. Pics/Hanif Patel

Arnala Coastal police have registered an FIR under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code against unknown persons and launched a probe.

An officer privy to the investigation said such incidents are on the rise in Vasai-Virar area. "Another decomposed body of a man in his mid-30s was found inside a blue drum on Vajreshwari Road on Thursday," said the officer. "His hands were tied with a torn piece of a saree and the body was wrapped in a blanket. It clearly shows that he was killed somewhere else and dumped near Usgaon on Vajreshwari Road to dispose of the body," said another officer from Virar police station, where an FIR under IPC Sections 302 and 201 has been filed.

Missing CCTV cameras

mid-day visited both the spots where the bodies were dumped, and both the locations did not have CCTV cameras. "Vasai-Virar is very close to Mumbai, Thane City and Thane Rural. The area is developing fast, but the infrastructure is not up to date. Most of the roads are either dim lit or lack street lights. Moreover, the number of CCTV cameras are inadequate and there are many open areas of dirt and gravel," said a senior officer from Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police.

In July, Vasai police recovered a suitcase containing a woman's headless body

"We have also noticed that no one is bothered if a suspicious vehicle is found in their vicinity. In some cases, criminals were also believed to have come from Vapi and Valsad in Gujarat to dump bodies in Vasai-Virar as most of its stretch is coastal and the area is bushy," the officer added. Another senior officer said that people in Mumbai and Thane live with room partners and their families live in villages. "If a room partner is killed over some dispute, the body is dumped in Vasai-Virar because there is no safe location in Mumbai and Thane to dispose of the body.

"In such cases, no missing person's complaint is registered. It becomes a challenging task to establish the identity of the deceased, as the killers remove all the belongings that could help in identifying. Even if a body is identified, no officer takes time to solve a murder case," said the officer.

Residents unbothered

An Arnala Coastal police officer said, "Real estate is mushrooming fast in Vasai-Virar and the residents are all new to this fast-growing city. They hardly take any interest in informing police on finding something suspicious. It is their responsibility, too, to remain vigilant and inform police to keep the area crime free."

In July, Vasai police recovered a suitcase containing a woman's headless body. They filed an FIR under IPC Sections 302 and 201, but the case remains unsolved till date. Officers had put up several posters in Vasai in a bid to get a clue, but got no help.

This year, so far, 44 murder cases have been registered at different police stations, said MBVV police's public relations officer (PRO). "The detection rate is 91 per cent, as 40 cases have been detected. Out of these 40 cases, victims in about 15 cases were killed outside our jurisdiction, but the bodies were dumped here. Investigations are underway to solve the four of the 44 murders."

15
No. of murders that happened outside Vasai-Virar