Was not easy to track down accused: Police

Simultaneously,another team tracked Sambhaji. “When we went to Bhagat Singh Nagar in Goregaon (West),we found a slum colony so large that it was impossible to find the suspect,” he said.

Meanwhile,the team tracking the Pawars got their breakthrough on July 19. The couple was traced to Rabale in Thane and questioned.

“The first thing we did was to have Tanaji call Sambhaji to meet him,” Vast said. With both men in one place,the police spoke to Maya. Maya told the police that on October 12,Tanaji arrived home with a large black plastic bag,the contents of which he did not show her. That night,Tanaji and Sambhaji celebrated,and allegedly leaked the first clue to their friend .

“Maya told us the bag lay in their home until Bhanumati’s body was discovered. Tanaji’s brother,who had detected something strange in his behaviour,ordered him to get rid of the bag,” he said.

Tanaji,Maya and Sambhaji then fled to Ratnagiri and stayed put for the next two months. One night,when Tanaji had once again drunk too much,he allegedly told Maya that he had killed Bhanumati. Both men had divided the loot equally. “Maya was so scared that she did not tell anybody. Even after they returned to Mumbai,Maya did not go back to her old job,” said Vast.

The police received no cooperation from Tanaji. “We decided to question Tanaji and Sambhaji together and it worked,” Vast said.

The police said Tanaji occasionally accompanied his wife to Bhanumati’s home and became acquainted with her. A couple of weeks before the crime,he had asked Bhanumati to lend him Rs 10,000,but she refused. Tanaji had been out of a job after the Swadeshi Mill shut down. Chandrakant was to accompany them to Bhanumati’s home on October 12,but backed out. “Both men entered Bhanumati’s home,telling her that they had come to sell her a tulsi plant. The hospitable Bhanumati asked them to sit while she made tea. As soon as her back was turned,the men stabbed her. After locating the gold,they ransacked her home to make it look like a murder committed by someone who did not know her,” he said. So far,the police have recovered some of the stolen goods,including Bhanumati’s wristwatch,her diary and 10 gm of gold.