Labourer held for killing co-worker, dumping body in septic tank

Mumbai: A 40-year-old labourer was arrested recently for allegedly killing his co-worker in a fit of rage and dumping the body in a septic tank of an under-construction high-rise building in Oshiwara, Andheri West.

The Oshiwara police arrested the accused, identified as Kera Rai, 40, on Sunday. According to the police, the partially decomposed body of the victim, Charka Pujahar, 45, was fished out of a 12-foot deep septic tank on August 3.

“To establish the identity of the body, we had to comb through dozens of missing persons’ complaints across the city. Both the accused and the victim, who came from the same village, had been reported missing by their employer,” an officer from Oshiwara police station said. He added that the missing complaint for Rai and Pujahar was registered on July 27 at Andheri police station.

The officer added that when the investigating team approached the complainant, they were told that Rai had returned. “We picked him up for questioning, suspecting he might know about Pujahar, who was still missing. During interrogation, he confessed that he hit his friend on the head with a bamboo stick in a fit of anger,” said the officer.

According to the police, Rai and Pujahar arrived in Mumbai from their hometown in July along with the supervisor of a construction project in Ambewadi, Andheri East.

They were not happy with the wages being offered there and decided to leave the place without informing anyone, the officer said, adding, “Initially, they planned to explore the city and look for other jobs. However, they ended up living under the Thackeray bridge for a couple of days before finding shelter in an under-construction building.”

Rai told the police that they had lost their way around the city and were unable to return to the site where they were first offered work. Meanwhile, as the two did not return to their village after five days of leaving the construction site, the site supervisor reported them missing on July 27.

“After roaming around the streets for eight days amid heavy rains and little food, Pujahar got frustrated. He blamed Rai for bringing him to Mumbai and their current condition. He wanted to go back to their village, but Rai said they would soon locate the site where they were originally supposed to work,” said the officer. This argument, the officer said, took place at the crime scene.

Angered by the accusations his friend hurled at him, Rai allegedly hit him on the head with a bamboo stick lying around, the officer said. “When he realised that the blow was fatal and Pujahar died, he threw his friend’s body in the septic tank before returning to the actual place of work a couple of days later,” said police.