The main suspect in the November 7 murder of a lady at a resort in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, has been captured after eluding authorities for a week. Ten days and almost 4,000 kilometres of travel, after constantly moving around to keep the police guessing, his luck ran out. While on the run, he allegedly continued to make daily withdrawals of 20,000 from the victim's account.
The accused, who gave his name as Abhijit Patidar at first, has now been recognised as Hemant Bhadane, 29. Police claimed that he was taken into custody in Rajasthan yesterday and will be presented in court today. A group of attorneys in Jabalpur slapped Hemant as he left the courthouse. He will remain in police custody until Monday, when he will be brought back to court.
The 25-year-old Shilpa Jharia was found dead at Mekhla Resort, and a video with the corpse and the statement "Bewafai Nahi Karne Ka" (do not be unfaithful) was released online, allegedly by Hemant.
The victim and the suspect both arrived at the resort on November 6th, as shown by the hotel's booking system. The suspect allegedly locked the door behind them on November 7 and vanished without a trace. The next day, resort security personnel forced entry into the room and discovered the victim's corpse on the bed.
Police stated they were able to positively identify Abhijit Patidar as Hemant Bhadane thanks to the use of fingerprint cross-verification.
Police were able to identify Hemant thanks to the testimony of the taxi driver who had driven him and to surveillance video from the ATMs from which he had taken money using the victim's ATM card.
The accused testified that his business partner, Jitendra Kumar, had ordered the murder. Kumar was apprehended shortly after the homicide. Hemant had previously identified Sumit Patel as Jitendra's assistant, and police have now taken him into jail as well.
Inspector General of Jabalpur Mukesh Joga said that the accused and the victim had booked into the resort on November 6 under the names Abhijit Patidar and Rakhi Mishra, respectively. They had also sent what they thought were copies of their Aadhar Cards to the resort's receptionist's phone for identification purposes, but these turned out to be forgeries.
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However, once a finger print specialist cross-checked the facts of the evidence acquired at the site, it was determined that the accused was really the same Hemant Bhadane, who had 37 complaints filed against him for different offences in Maharashtra, including bike theft. That's when everyone found out who he really was.
It was reported by a police official that the suspect was also in possession of the victim's mobile phone, ATM card, necklace, earrings, and Rs 1,52,450 in cash.
After the murder, the suspect released a video in which he claimed to be a businessman from Patna and mentioned Jitendra as his business partner, all while accusing the victim of having an affair with both of them.
The victim, he said, borrowed around Rs 12 lakh from Jitendra before escaping to Jabalpur.
