MUMBAI: The Borivali Government Railway Police (GRP) on Tuesday informed a metropolitan magistrate that they had finally recovered the knife allegedly used in the June 23 fatal stabbing of a 22-year-old salesman aboard a local train.
According to the police, the knife was found on the night of the incident by three employees of a restaurant near the exit of platforms 2 and 3 at Borivali railway station. Unaware of its possible connection to the crime, the employees had handed it over to their manager, who kept it at the restaurant.
After coming across videos of the stabbing on social media days later, the manager suspected it could be the weapon used in the attack and approached the police on Monday, officers told the court. The knife has since been sent for forensic testing to determine if it is indeed the murder weapon.
The recovery of the knife comes a week after Roshan Suvarna, 30, allegedly stabbed fellow passenger Mayank Lohar, 22, in the first-class compartment of a local train between Goregaon and Malad late on June 23, following an argument over whether the door should be kept closed during heavy rain. Suvarna was arrested the following day in Panvel, but the knife was missing.
The police told the court that the recovered knife has a maroon handle and a 17.5-cm single-edged blade. Suvarna had allegedly been carrying it in his bag for the past four to five months after obtaining it from the warehouse of an e-commerce company where his friend, Tushar Sarvaiya, worked. Suvarna, who was employed at a cargo-handling facility, allegedly told Sarvaiya he needed the knife for work.
Police officers said Suvarna told them he had thrown the knife away after getting off at Borivali station following the incident. The police conducted a search along the route with the accused, but could not find the knife. However, as the accused pointed out the exact spot where he had discarded the weapon, a detailed panchnama was conducted.
While investigators were reviewing CCTV footage along Suvarna’s escape route and alerting nearby shopkeepers about the missing weapon, Girish Putran, manager of a restaurant in Borivali West, approached the GRP on Monday evening. Putran told police that three of his colleagues had found the knife on the night of the incident and handed it over to him.
According to the police, Putran had stored the knife in a box at the restaurant, unaware that it could be linked to a murder. Days later, after watching videos about the stabbing incident on social media, he realised it might be the missing weapon. After consulting his employer, Putran took one of the employees who had found the knife, identified as Kundankumar, to the GRP station and handed over the weapon to the police.
The police also informed the court that they have obtained the call detail records (CDR) of Suvarna’s mobile phone and are analysing them to determine whether he had links with any criminal gangs. The GRP sought a further seven days of police custody for Suvarna. The court extended his remand till July 6.
