A chilling crime orchestrated by juveniles has surfaced from Maharashtra's Thane city, where a 17-year-old student was brutally murdered by two of his Class 12 peers for a gold chain. The police have apprehended the two minors, who allegedly eliminated their friend to grab the valuable ornament, valued at around Rs 1 lakh, in order to fund an extravagant birthday party and purchase a motorcycle.
A Meticulous Plot Driven by Greed
According to police investigators, the motive behind the gory homicide was pure materialistic greed. The two accused teenagers had noticed the expensive gold chain around their friend's neck and plotted to steal it. They calculated that selling the jewellery would yield sufficient money to fulfill their desires, including throwing a lavish birthday celebration and buying a two-wheeler. They chose the evening of September 24 to execute the horrific plan.
Lured to an Isolated Spot on Ghodbunder Road
On September 24, the victim left his residence at around 7 pm after being invited by the two accused under the pretext of smoking cigarettes together. They took him to a secluded area near Brahmand Phase-2 along Ghodbunder Road. Once in the isolated stretch, the duo launched a vicious assault on the unsuspecting boy. He was stabbed repeatedly with a knife. To ensure he could not survive or be recognized, the attackers bludgeoned his face with a heavy stone. After executing the killing, they concealed the body deep inside nearby bushes before fleeing the area.
Returning with Petrol to Erase Evidence
When the victim failed to return home that night, his family grew anxious. The following day, his father lodged a formal missing person complaint, prompting the police to register a kidnapping case and initiate a search operation. Meanwhile, fearing detection, the accused returned to the crime scene the very next day armed with petrol. They poured the fuel over the hidden body and set it on fire in an attempt to destroy forensic evidence and thwart identification.
Misleading the Investigation with Film Tactics
The investigators revealed that the teenagers went to great lengths to misdirect the search. Having recently watched the movie Drishyam 3, the accused allegedly drew inspiration from crime fiction methods. They broke the victim's mobile phone and tossed it inside a moving public bus. Their rationale was that police tracking the device's tower location would observe it traveling along bus routes, thereby sending the tracking team on a wild goose chase away from the actual murder spot.
Unraveling the Mystery Through Surveillance
To trace the missing teenager, police teams combed through recorded footage from 80 to 90 CCTV cameras installed across multiple intersections and routes. When initial searches offered no breakthrough, technical surveillance and call history analysis pointed suspicion toward the two classmates. Under sustained interrogation, one of the suspects broke down on Thursday and confessed to the crime. Based on the details provided during questioning, the police recovered the partially charred body from the bushes off Ghodbunder Road. Further legal proceedings and detailed investigations into the matter are ongoing.
