Kalyan police probe minor’s suspected murder, boyfriend’s suicide

THANE: The Kalyan police are investigating the possible links between the recovery of the decomposed body of a 13-year-old girl and the death of her 22-year-old boyfriend, who was found dead on the tracks at Kalyan the day the girl went missing.
On Saturday afternoon, the residents of Atul Baug Syndicate in Kalyan West called the police to report a foul odour emanating from a dilapidated house in a chawl. Mahatma Phule police officials reached the spot, where they found the body of a 13-year-old girl in the 10×20 feet dark room.
“The body was decomposed, with rats nibbling at it,” said a policeman. “We found a mobile phone in a bag near the body. After the panchnama, we sent the body to JJ Hospital for a postmortem and registered a murder case. When we traced the mobile phone, it was registered in the name of Krushna Shirsath. We reached out to her family, and discovered that the day she went missing was also the day that Shirsath had died in a train accident.”
According to the police, the girl lived with her retired father, brother and mother in Kalyan. On January 14, she left her house at around 12.30 pm, telling her mother that she was going to her friend’s house to study and would return home to eat tilgul ladoos made for Makar Sankranti. When she did not return till evening, the family filed a missing person complaint at Khadakpada police station.
After beginning the investigation, the Khadakpada police questioned the girl’s friend who did not reveal anything at first. “But after her body was discovered, the friend told us that the victim had left her place at around 1.30 pm, saying she was going to meet her boyfriend Krushna,” said a police official.
In the course of their investigation, the police retrieved CCTV footage from the Atul Baug Syndicate area where the girl’s body was found. Both the girl and her boyfriend were seen entering the dilapidated room between 3.30 pm and 4 pm on January 14. Later, Krushna came out alone, and around 5.10 pm, the railway police reported his death on the railway track between Shahad and Kalyan.
“The motorman of a suburban train reported that a youth had suddenly jumped in front of the train,” said a Kalyan railway police officer. “We reached the spot, recovered his body, and contacted his family members, who told us they were in Jalna. They sent a cousin to collect his body, and he took it to Jalna for the last rites on January 15.”
According to the information pieced together, Krushna Shirsath was the youngest of four children of a Jalna farmer and was completing his Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in a Kalyan college. His sister is a doctor, and his two elder siblings too are well settled. Concerned about Krishna’s education, the family had rented a room in Sambhaji Nagar, Kalyan. His family members are in shock after his death. When HT spoke to his cousin, he was not aware of Krushna’s romantic relationship with the girl.
The girl, on her part, was a Class VIII student. Based on witness statements, the police suspect that she met Krushna on social media and was in a relationship for a year and a half. Her family told the police that she had no mobile phone, as they had taken her phone away after noticing her long calls and chats with friends.
Through her friend’s statement, it was learnt that Krushna had given her a mobile phone and SIM card, which was registered in his name. Her friends also told the police that the couple had fought in the past but the reason for their differences is still unclear.
The Mahatma Phule police, who recovered the girl’s body, and the Kalyan railway police, who recovered Krushna’s body, have handed over the investigation to the Khadakpada police, which lodged the missing complaint. The investigating team is awaiting the post-mortem report from JJ Hospital, while continuing with its investigations.