Thane man murdered over monetary tiff, 3 friends held | Thane News – Times of India

THANE: Three men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly murdering their 25-year-old friend, a Yuva Sena functionary, on Tuesday after a disputeover money.
The police said that the accused had dumped the friend’s body in a jungle, stripped it of ornaments, set it ablaze and dropped his cellphone in a Gujarat-bound truck.
The deceased, Akshay Thube, was a resident of Vasant Vihar in Thane, who owned a family-run sugarcane juice business. The police said that Thube and the three accused – Gurunath Jadhav, Karan Savra and Prashant Jabar – were friends.
“Their friendship soured after Thube, who had lent Rs 3.5 lakh to Jadhav, started demanding the money back following which the latter’s parents mortgaged their house to him. This led to frequent arguments between the two friends. Jadhav invited Thube to his house to resolve the matter. However, the discussion escalated into an arguments and violence. Jadhav and Savra fatally attacked Thube with a sharp object,” said senior inspector Girish Gode of Chitalsar Manpada police station.
Following the assault, the panicked friends tried to dispose of the body at a desolate spot in a nearby jungle. They removed all belongings, including clothes, and poured petrol and set the corpse on fire to avoid identification.
Meanwhile, as Thube didn’t return home and wasn’t even taking calls, his family and lodged a missing person complaint.
The police inspector said that they traced Thube’s mobile location and found it near the Gujarat border. “Later, we realised that the accused may have thrown the phone onto some passing vehicle to mislead us,” said inspector Gode.
Savra happened to run into the police while trying to sell the ornaments flicked off Thube’s corpse. “Our team was tipped off about a stolen gold item sale happening at Manpada and we nabbed Savra. On questioning, he confessed to the crime and led us to his aides,” said the inspector.
The accused have been booked under IPC sections.