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Navi Mumbai: A day after the arrest of three men in murder of 30 year old missing lady from Belapur, Shil Daighar police has revealed that the deceased lady was gang raped after being spiked by the three men including one ‘Sadhu’ of Ghol Ganapati temple at Kalyan Shilphata.
The main priest of the temple had gone to Uttar Pradesh to visit another temple and had asked Santoshkumar Ramyagna Mishra (45) to look after the temple and the cow shed of the temple in his absence. Mishra, a Sadhu, took care of another temple in Pratapgad in Uttar Pradesh and came to Mumbai on July 5.
While he came, he also got his friend Rajkumar Rampher Pandey (54), a farmer from his hometown to stay with him in the temple. Meanwhile, the third accused identified as Shamsundar Pyarchand Sharma (62), a retired staff from Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) was a regular visitor at the temple and had befriended the duo.
On July 6, at around 6 am, the deceased lady left her home after a fight with her husband and mother in law. “Usually every Staurday she visits a temple in Belapur village. But on that day she decided to go to Ghol Ganapati temple at Kalyan Shilphata. Due to its strategic location on the hillock, the environment in the temple premises is very serene, calm and quiet. She might have thought of spending time alone peacefully and decided to visit this temple that day. The deceased’s father told us that she along with her friends used to visit this temple sometimes and that is how she knows about this place,” senior police inspector Sandeepan Shinde from SHil Daighar police station said. After reaching the temple she spent the whole day there sitting in the temple which the two men, Mishra and Pandey noticed.
“The accused ‘Sadhu’ Mishra was in possession of ‘bhaang’ and came up with the idea of spiking her tea and raping her. They then called Sharma as well and then made spiked tea for her. When she lost her conscious, the trio took turns to rape her brutally causing her injuries. The incident took place in the store room of the temple. After few hours, when she gained conscious and realized what had happened, she started screaming following which the accused killed her by banging her head and strangulating her,” Shinde added.
The deceased lady had gone to the temple at around 10.30 am on July 6 as per the ccttv footage. But the footage of the evening of the same day, was not found. The murder happened on July 7 early morning after which they kept the body in the store room itself for a day and on July 8, they dumped it near the valley of the hillock. On July 9, a visitor of the temple noticed the body and informed the police.
While Mishra and Pandey were arrested from the temple itself, Sharma had fled and was traced and nabbed from Trombay. On Thursday all three were produced before the court and have been remanded to police custody till July 16. “While Mishra was the brain behind the act, Sharma was the one who disconnected the cable wires of the cctv cameras in the evening after which nothing was recorded in the temple premises,” Shinde said.
The lady lived with her husband, mother in law and a three year old child in Belpaur village while her parents lives in Koparkhairane. According to police, due to the domestic issues, she has left the husband’s house many a times and wen to her maternal home and would go back after the intervention of the family.
On July 6, instead of going home, she decided to go to temple to find peace. The accused have been arrested under the sections 103 (1) (murder), 70 (1) (gangrape) and 238 (disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
