Youth held for murder of man he befriended at country liquor bar after argument to pay food bill

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai crime branch unit-2 team have detected the murder case registered at Panvel city police station, wherein an unidentified man's body was found in a decomposed state at an abandoned godown near Panvel railway station on Sept 16.
The accused identified as Dhiraj Verma (27), who hails from MP, has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly strangulating the unidentified victim with a cloth rope after a verbal spat during liquor session.
ACP (crime) Ajay Landge informed that on Sept 16 around 4.40 pm, an identified man's decomposed body was found in the abandoned godown in the vicinity of Panval railway station.
The victim's post-mortem report stated his cause of death was due to strangulation. Hence, a murder case was registered against an unidentified accused under relevant section of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
The murder victim is still unidentified as the accused and victim are not known to each other. The crime branch team carried out a parallel probe. The CCTV camera footages of the six roads leading to the crime scene were scanned.
After scanning 50 CCTV camera footages for one week, the suspect was spotted accompanying the murder victim, while heading towards the godown.
Gathering information from the locals and police informers, the suspect was traced to the locality near Koliwada fish market in Panvel.
After detaining the suspect, Dhiraj Verma, he confessed to his crime and claimed that he strangulated the victim after an argument during liquor session. The arrested accused Verma was produced before the Panvel court that has remanded to police custody till Sept 30. The murder victim is still unidentified."
Investigating office, PI (crime) Umesh Gavali informed that, "the victim and accused met at a country liquor bar in Panvel. After the booze, they went to a roadside eatery to eat Puri bhaji. As the victim told that he did not have money to share the bill and told the accused that he will pay him later, an argument ensued them. The accused paid the bill and they both went to the godown, where the victim wanted to sleep. As the accused told the victim to repay, the victim denied. Hence, the accused strangulated him and escaped."