Mumbai: A 17.5cm knife used to stab to death a 21-year-old passenger in a local train last week was recovered on Monday and the accused had carried it around in his bag for four to five months, GRP told a magistrate court on Tuesday.The court extended the police custody of the accused, Roshan Suvarna, till July 6 as police said they are yet to establish the motive behind carrying the knife.The victim, Mayank Lohar, had an altercation with Suvarna over shutting the door amid heavy rain on June 23. Suvarna later knifed him three to four times in the chest and the abdomen.In their remand application, police said Suvarna claimed to have thrown the knife away after getting out of the subway at Borivli West following the crime. They checked surveillance camera footage but couldn’t locate it. The manager of a local restaurant approached them on Monday and said a staffer had found the knife in a lane after exiting platforms 2-3 in Borivli West the night of the murder. The staffer and his colleagues placed the knife in a box and informed their employer. The manager claimed they recognised the knife from the now viral video clip of the murder. Police have sent the knife for forensic tests to check if the bloodstains match the victim’s sample.The knife has a 12cm long blade. Suvarna told police he had picked up two knives—one small and another larger that was used in the murder—from the godown of an e-commerce platform at Mira-Bhayander, where his friend works. Police have recorded the friend’s statement. Suvarna claimed he used the small knife at his workplace for making barcodes and labels, while he kept the large knife in his bag for protection. Police are verifying his claims and are ascertaining whether he used the knife to threaten or harm anyone else in the past seven months.Lohar’s mother broke down in court during Suvarna’s production.Suvarna’s lawyers, Surendra Landge and Azad Gupta, said in court police had failed to apply Arms Act in the case.
