A view of the forest.
Credits: DH File Photo
Thane: A 19-year-old woman who had been missing for the last 34 days was found murdered in Kharghar area of Navi Mumbai, with the prima facie probe revealing she was killed by her jilted lover who committed suicide by jumping in front of a local train, the police have said.
The man had left behind a “code” in a suicide note that was retrieved from his mobile phone. After toiling for days, investigators decoded it, which was the number of a tree marked by forest officials. The code helped the cops trace the woman’s body, he said on Wednesday.
The woman was allegedly strangled to death in Kharghar hills by the accused who was angry over her snapping ties with him, an official said.
The woman left for her college in Sion on December 12 and never returned, following which a missing person case was registered at Kalamboli police station.
During the investigation, police received a message that one Vaibhav Burungale, a resident of Kalamnboli, had killed himself by jumping in front of a running local train at Juinagar railway station on December 12, following which a case was registered, the official said.
Meanwhile, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe set up a special task force to investigate the case.
Police found a suicide note saved in the mobile phone of Burungale stating that he had murdered the woman and was going to commit suicide, the official said.
The official said code words such as ‘L01-501’ were used in the suicide note which was decoded by the police to crack the case. The code was the number of a tree, marked by the Forest Department, where Burungale dumped the body of the woman.
“The investigation revealed that the woman and Burungale were present in Kharghar Hills area on December 12. Police took the help of voluntary rescuers from Lonavala and collaborated with the Fire Brigade, Cidco, and Forest Department to search the woman's body. Drones were also used,” police said in a release.
The breakthrough came when the woman's body was spotted lying in bushes in a dumping ground in the Owe camp area in Kharghar, it said.
The body was identified based on the dress the woman was wearing when she had left for college, the wristwatch, and the ID card.
Further investigation is underway, police said.