Navi Mumbai: A 19-year-old girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend have been arrested for the murder of a 43-year-old man in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, who allegedly blackmailed the girl using intimate videos. The deceased, Surendra Asaram Pandey, was found dead in a decomposed state inside his locked apartment after the duo confessed to the crime at a police station in Sangamner.
According to police, Pandey, originally from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, was living alone in Kriyansh Residency, Sector 24, Ulwe, and earned a living by driving an Ola cab. A few weeks ago, he befriended the accused girl identified as Riya Dinesh Sarkanyasingh, who had moved from Punjab in search of employment. Offering to help her, Pandey allowed her to stay at his residence.
On April 2, Riya invited her boyfriend, Vishal Sanjay Shinde, from Sangamner to stay with her at Pandey’s house. “According to the girl, the deceased had shot some intimate vidoes of both the accused and used those videos to demand sexual favours from her, threatening to leak the footage online,” a police officer from Ulwe police station said.
During a confrontation that escalated into a violent altercation, Sarkanyasingh and Shinde allegedly attacked Pandey with a hammer, killing him. They then wrapped his body in a bedsheet, locked the house from the outside, and fled in Pandey’s WagonR car.
While escaping, the couple met with an accident near Pune but survived. They then traveled to Shinde’s home in Sangamner, where they reportedly confessed the crime to his family. Acting on the family’s advice, they surrendered at the Sangamner police station and admitted to the murder, said police.
Following their confession, Sangamner police contacted Ulwe police, who rushed to Pandey’s residence. Upon breaking into the apartment, officers found Pandey’s decomposed body wrapped in a bedsheet. Riya and Vishal were taken into custody and are now being interrogated further.
“The accused have confessed that they were driven to murder due to blackmail and repeated threats from the victim,” said a police officer involved in the investigation. “We are continuing our probe to verify all aspects of the case and gather digital evidence related to the blackmail.”
The case has raised serious concerns about digital privacy, blackmail, and the vulnerability of young people in unfamiliar cities.
