Nagpur: An anonymous tip-off from a roadside pan kiosk informer brought to fore a murder that remained unnoticed for almost eight months. A 50-year-old cook from Mumbai was killed and buried at Ramtek. However, as the deceased, Pratap Singh Bais, had cut off relations with his family, the disappearance was never reported leading to the murder remaining undiscovered.The case remained hidden until March 9, when SP Harssh Poddar received information about a buried body. He directed the local crime branch (LCB) to launch a discreet probe. “The murder remained under the wraps for eight months as there was no missing complaint, accidental death report or any other reference. We started from zero after the anonymous call and ended up uncovering a murder. The caller did not even know where the victim was buried or what led to the murder. All he told us was that the incident had taken place at a popular dhaba near Khindsi,” said Poddar.Putting together the jigsaw pieces, cops rounded up five people, including the dhaba owner and his son. Soon, the accused spilled the beans and decomposed body, buried in a field since July 2025, was exhumed on Monday. The victim, Bais, was a resident of Vile Parle in Mumbai and worked as a cook at a dhaba on the Ramtek-Tumsar Road in Navargaon, under Ramtek police station limits for the last few years.The dhaba belonged to Kailash Thackeray. Bais reportedly had an alcohol addiction and frequently used foul language at work. On July 20, 2025, Bais allegedly stole a mobile phone from the dhaba. Six days later, Piyush Thackeray (23), the owner’s son, confronted Bais. A drunk Bais admitted to the theft and allegedly mocked Piyush over unpaid salaries. In a fit of rage, Piyush allegedly strangled Pratap to deathat around 11pm.Fearing arrest, Piyush, his father Kailash (53), and three dhaba employees — Shivram Markam (50), Dharmaraj Barthi (45), and Dhiraj Wankhede (37) — buried the body at Thackeray’s farmland in Navargaon.Police stated that Bais cut off ties with his family long ago. So, there was no missing complaint, and no one bothered about his whereabouts.Investigators first detained the three employees, interrogated them intensively, and extracted confessions about the location where the body was buried. This led to the arrest of Kailash and, subsequently, his son Piyush.A team, along with the tehsildar, reached the field, conducted a panchnama, and exhumed the badly decomposed remains. An initial accidental death report was filed before the case was converted into murder at Ramtek Police Station.The postmortem confirmed death by strangulation. All five accused were arrested and booked under Sections 103(1) (murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023. They are currently in police custody.
