Constable identified Shivshankar Gaikwad, who worked as a driver, murdered Dada Jagdale (38), vegetable vendor of Solapur, as he suspected his wife Monali (35) of having an affair with him

New Delhi, December 9

Headless body of a man in his 30s was found in Antop Hill area of Mumbai. The Mumbai Police cracked the case on few hours and found that the victim, a vegetable vendor of Solapur was killed and body was cut into pieces before being dumped. 

The police have arrested a constable identified Shivshankar Gaikwad, who worked as a driver, murdered Dada Jagdale (38) as he suspected his wife Monali (35) of having an affair with him.

The police stated that after he learnt that Jagdale was to visit Mumbai on September 29-30 last year, Gaikwad decided to kill him. The body was dumped on a footpath in CGS Colony’s Sector 7 in Antop Hill a few metres away from the office of ACP, Sion Division. 

The police were informed by a local on September 30 morning that a headless body with burn marks and limbs severed was found wrapped in plastic. There was a tattoo with the name ‘Dada’ on the body gave police the first lead. While searching further, the police found part of Jagdale’s hand along with other parts in an inflated plastic sofa-cum-air bed, which was wrapped in a bedsheet. 

The bedsheet used to wrap the body gave clue to police and they approached companies selling such beds but got no headway.

During the post-mortem, however, an aluminum plate was found implanted in the victim’s left leg, giving police another lead. Police approached its manufacturer, which said it distributed such plates in six states, but not Maharashtra. 

The police then scanned hundreds of CCTV footage where the body was found. Their suspicion fell on a Wagon R with tinted glass and mud on its numberplate. The car’s plate had ‘police’ written on it. Witnesses also confirmed having seen the accused along with a woman in the car.

The police then zeroed in on Gaikwad based on technical evidence and his CDR had Jagdale’s name in it. The victim’s Subscriber’s Detail Records and CDR were also probed, which led police to his residence at Akluj in Solapur district. 

When the police teams reached Solapur, they were informed that he had left for Mumbai on September 29 last year to meet a friend but did not return and that they could not reach him on his mobile phone number.

After police came to know that Gaikwad was on leave, they went to his residence at Worli government quarters and detained him along with his wife and later arrested them on October 9, 2021. Jagdale’s mobile was found at Gaikwad’s residence. 

During his interrogation, Gaikwad confessed he had called Jagdale to his residence and killed him using a sickle, which he threw in a sewerage chamber in Worli. He cut the body into pieces and used his own car to dump them in Antop Hill. He threw the head in the dumping yard in Deonar. He also tried to burn the body to destroy evidence, added officials.