A 31-year-old member of Vikrant Deshmukh gang absconding since four years in a case of murder has been arrested in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township, police said on Monday.
The accused, Rakesh Janardhan Koli, and other members of the gang allegedly kidnapped Nerul area resident Sachin Garje in September 2019 over an enmity, killed him and dumped the body in the Uran creek, a crime branch official said.
The accused later fished out the body, burnt it to destroy the evidence and buried it underground near the creek, the official said.
After the arrest of four members of the gang and their interrogation, the police got to know about the disposal of the body which was later exhumed.
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Deshmukh was arrested in 2022 from Goa and some of his other associates were also nabbed subsequently, the police said.
Koli and the other accused were charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were also imposed against them, the police said.
Koli, who is the 17th accused in the case, was on the run and kept changing his locations as he moved from one district to another in the state.
Acting on a tip-off that he was scheduled to come to Ghavangaon in Uran, the police laid a trap on Saturday and nabbed him as he arrived there, the official said.
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He was produced before a local court on Sunday which remanded him in police custody till March 7, the official added.
