A murder case that had remained unsolved for nearly 11 months in Navi Mumbai's Airoli area has finally been cracked, with police arresting the victim's wife and her alleged lover. The Rabale MIDC police identified the accused as 40 year old Sunita Kushwaha and 30 year old Rahul Dashrath Prajapati. The two are accused of killing Sunita's husband, 50 year old Baliram Suryanath Kushwaha, cutting up his body and dumping the pieces in a forest. For months, Baliram's disappearance remained a mystery until steady police work finally exposed the killing.
Husband's opposition to the affair triggered the plot
According to police, Baliram strongly objected to the alleged relationship between his wife and Rahul, and he never hid his disapproval. That very opposition is believed to have turned fatal for him. Police say Sunita and Rahul, tired of Baliram's constant objections, plotted together to remove him from the picture. Following a hearing, a local court remanded both accused to seven days of police custody so that questioning can continue and every link in the conspiracy can be established.
Children sent away before the killing was carried out
Investigators found that on the night of August 9, 2025, before carrying out the murder, the couple's two children were deliberately sent to stay at their aunt's house, keeping them away from what was about to unfold. Baliram was then strangled to death while he slept, after which his head was severed from his body using a sharp weapon. The entire act was carried out in a chillingly calculated manner, with both accused having planned it well in advance.
To destroy the evidence, the accused then allegedly cut the body into three parts, wrapping each piece separately in sacks and sheets. Using Rahul's auto rickshaw, the three body parts were dumped at three different spots in the forest on Gavali Dev hill, so that the remains would be difficult to find and even harder to identify. After the murder, Sunita moved to Ghansoli with her children and began living with Rahul, telling people around her that Baliram had simply left home, a story that kept suspicion away for a long time.
A missing person complaint cracked the case open
The case eventually came to light when Baliram's brother, having heard nothing from him for a long time, began searching for him. He finally filed a missing person complaint at Rabale MIDC police station in April 2026. Acting on that complaint, police launched an investigation, examining call detail records, tracking changes in mobile numbers, and zeroing in on contradictions in the statements given separately by Sunita and Rahul. During separate rounds of interrogation, both accused allegedly broke down and revealed the entire conspiracy behind the murder.
Police are currently carrying out a search operation in the Gavali Dev forest to recover the victim's skeletal remains and other body parts. Further investigation into the case is ongoing, with police trying to establish exactly how and when the plot was hatched, and whether anyone else had a role in it.
Police say two accused arrested, probe continues
Senior Police Inspector Devidas Kathare said that acting on the complaint filed by the victim's brother, police have arrested two people, and that further investigation into the case is ongoing.
