Kurar killings: Pathak’s cigarette addiction helped police nab him

“An informer had told us that Pathak was about to flee to Nepal and we had just one day to nab him. The informer also told us that Pathak would only come out of his hideout to smoke. Based on the tip-off,we reached Varanasi on Wednesday afternoon and kept a watch on him,” said a senior Crime Branch officer who did not wish to be named.

“ We had disguised ourselves as local Muslims,wearing skull caps and pathani suits,walking casually near Pathak as he was smoking at a cigarette shop. When all the officers were within two feet from Pathak,I kept a hand on his shoulder and told him to walk with us and then arrested him,” said the officer.

On interrogation,he allegedly confessed to the murders. According to police sources,throughout the journey from Varanasi to Mumbai,Pathak kept saying that if the police had not let him go after he was called in to Kurar police station for allegedly molesting a woman shortly before the murders,his anger would have subsided and he would not have ended up killing the men.

“Pathak repeated that he was in an inebriated state and did not intend to kill the four. He told us that if the police officers from Kurar had not let him go after the woman filed a complaint against him,he would have been able to control his anger,” said an officer.

Apart from the Crime Branch,teams from Kurar police station,a special squad of the Mumbai Police Commissioner and teams of other Crime Branch units were in Varanasi tracking Pathak’s cousin Abdul Shaikh who was the only person Pathak contacted after he ran out of cash,the officers revealed.

“Pathak was on the move and never stayed in one place for more than two days. We had traced Abdul who was in Ajmer at the time of the murder. It was through Abdul that we could trace Pathak,” said the officer.

The Kurar police will now interrogate Pathak to recover the weapons used in the murder.

“We are on a look out for some of Pathak’s associates and the weapon used for the murders,” said Ramrao Pawar,Additional Commissioner of Police (North region).