Virar murder: How friends figured out killers hand in victim's murder

A video grab of Pintoo Sharma being grilled by Ranade's friends on February 24, 2018, just three days after his disappearance and Arvind Ranade was last seen driving to Sharma's flat in Naigaon with the killer on February 21, 2018

The police could have caught suspected serial killer Pintoo Sharma last year if they had just listened to the suspicions of Arvind Ranade's family and friends. It took them just two days to figure out what has taken the police an entire year to piece together: that Sharma had likely also killed their friend Ranade, chopped up his body and disposed of it, just like he did with Virar victim, Ganesh Koladkar.

Arvind Ranade, 58, a senior development officer at LIC, went missing on February 21, 2018, right after he went for a meeting with his junior Pintoo Sharma, who is now suspected of being a serial killer. It did not take long for his friends to piece together what had happened to him. They pulled CCTV footage from the area and even grilled Sharma about what had happened that day.

Pintoo Sharma visits his flat in Naigaon at 9 am on February 21, before returning there with Arvind Sharma

Ranade's close friends said, "That day, his reporting manager received a WhatsApp message at 1:27 pm saying, 'Today I have three appointments at vasai with my new agent Pintu so not coming to office (sic)'." Ranade was a bachelor and was living with his elderly mother Usha, 87, who is bed-ridden and is now being taken care of by distant relatives in Borivli. His neighbours told mid-day that on the fateful day, Ranade left his house with Sharma around 11 am. "The duo got inside Ranade's car and his driver Uttam drove them to Sharma's rented flat in Naigaon, where they reached around 1:30 pm," said Ranade's friend.

They checked CCTV footage
This was the last time Ranade was seen alive. When he was nowhere to be found, Ranade's friends got worried and started questioning his neighbours and driver. The driver, Uttam, told them that after he dropped the duo at Sharma's building, the accused told him to leave. Their suspicions further aroused, the friends then checked the CCTV footage from the Naigaon building.

Around 1.30 pm, Ranade and Sharma arrive at the accused's flat in the accused's car. Only Sharma is seen leaving.

They spotted Ranade's car enter the society on February 21, but never saw him or the vehicle leave the premises. They also saw Sharma visit the flat, carrying a large bag, before he went there with Ranade. Following the meeting with Ranade, they saw Sharma visit the flat again, this time with a large blue drum. "It is to be noted that in the Virar murder, Sharma kept chopped pieces of flesh in a bucket from which he poured them into the toilet. We strongly suspect Sharma used this blue drum for the same purpose in the Ranade case," said a friend.

And also interrogated him
The amateur sleuths then visited Sharma's flat and grilled him about Ranade's disappearance. In a video recording of the interrogation on February 24, 2018, Sharma is seen telling them that he had been trying to contact Ranade a day after his disappearance, but his phone calls went unanswered.
Sharma claimed, "Ranade was about to meet someone special [in the flat], so I went outside. I had kept the key with me, and had told him that once he was done, he could just shut the door. "The next day I came to the building, and his car was parked here. Ranade had asked me whether it was okay to leave his car parked here. I told him the parking area was vacant."

Sharma is seen heading back to the flat with a large blue drum may have been used to dispose the body.

But the friends were not satisfied, especially after they saw a hacksaw blade, pliers, screw driver and a table fan on the kitchen platform in a flat that was otherwise empty. They told mid-day, "Last year, we had asked Sharma why there was a hacksaw blade, a pair of pliers and screw driver inside the flat when it was still vacant. He told us that he was about to relocate there with his wife and two sons, and needed to do some electrical wiring inside the flat."

The victim's friends nothing about Sharma's story added up. He joined Ranade's office on January 23, 2018, a month before the disappearance. When Ranade went missing, Sharma did not report to work for six months, which the group has alleged the police did not bother to verify. "Something is missing in the case, which the Valiv police failed to get till date. We strongly suspect that Sharma joined Ranade's office just to eliminate him," said a friend. Ranade's cousin, Sriniwas Patwardhan told mid-day, "The police did not investigate the case thoroughly. Due to a lack of evidence, Sharma was released on bailed last year." Another friend of Ranade's said, "We got CCTV footage from a shop near Sharma's flat and scanned 40 hours of footage. We have the vital CCTV grabs to the then investigating officer, but the case is yet to be solved."

Ex-investigating officer says
The then investigating officer (IO) Sudheer Dhayarkar, who is currently an API at Palghar police station, confirmed to this reporter that pliers, screw driver and table fan had indeed been recovered from the flat. "But I can't remember if there was a hacksaw blade too," added Dhayarkar, who is at present undergoing departmental training in Pune.

Dhayarkar further said, "We had interrogated Sharma seriously, but he did not reveal anything. He seems to be a thick-skinned criminal. There are three roads leading to the said flat in Naigaon. There was no CCTV camera installed in the building. Sharma told us that he had gone to purchase something for his house when Ranade left the house. We scanned the CCTV footage but Ranade was not seen there."

"Two days after Ranade's disappearance, Sharma called Ranade's mother, pretending to be her son and said 'I am in Pune for some important work for two days. I will return to Mumbai soon'. However, his mum was not ready to believe the caller. She said, 'That was not my son's voice'," said Ranade's friend.

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