May 23: A body found on Tuesday in a mutilated state at Kopar on the Mumbai-Pune highway in Navi Mumbai has been identified as that of a missing wholesale fruit merchant from Vashi.
Navi Mumbai police commissioner Sudhakar Ambedkar said Sahebrao Kale had disappeared last Saturday along with Rs 3.25 lakh he was carrying with him to Narayangaon in Pune district.
On that day he had dropped his nephew in an autorickshaw at the Mahatma Gandhi complex and told him that he would go to Narayangaon on his own. Thereafter, till Tuesday, Kale’s family heard nothing from him. They also failed to ascertain his whereabouts in Narayangaon. Late on Tuesday, they lodged a missing-person complaint; the same day the Kalamboli police had found a mutilated body at Kopar.
When it was shown to them, Kale’s relatives identified him from his fingers. "Otherwise, the body was so disfigured it would have been impossible," said Ambedkar. Inspector Bagwan of Kalamboli said investigations are on.