The woman had been strangulated to death with the 'odhni' (File)
A 40-year-old security guard with a housing complex in Navi Mumbai allegedly killed a married woman, with whom he was in a relationship, and dumped the body in bushes, police said on Thursday.
The accused, Rajkumar Baburam Pal, was arrested on Tuesday, they said, adding he wanted to get rid of the woman following her constant demand that he marry her.
On February 12, the body of an unidentified woman, in the age group of 35 to 40 years, was found in bushes near a housing society in Koparkhairne area of Navi Mumbai town in Thane district, senior police inspector Vishwanath Kolekar said.
The woman had been strangulated to death with the 'odhni' (a long piece of cloth worn around neck) and the body dumped in bushes to destroy evidence, he said.
The Koparkhairne police sent the body for post-mortem and registered a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence) against unidentified person.
Later, the Navi Mumbai police sent a message about finding the body to all police stations in Maharashtra and came to know that a case of a missing woman was registered at Trombay police station in neighbouring Mumbai, the official said.
The description of the body found in Navi Mumbai and the missing woman matched following which the police stepped up their probe, he said.
The police enquired with the missing woman's family members. Her husband told the police that she worked as a cleaner in Mankhurd area of Mumbai and had been missing, the official said.
The police later found the victim's mobile phone and also came to know that security guard Pal was in love with her.
After Pal was arrested, he told the police during interrogation that the woman had been repeatedly asking him to marry her, the official said.
Fed up with the constant demand, the security guard decided to get rid of her. He called her to a spot near the housing complex where he worked and allegedly strangulated her to death, the police said.
The accused then dumped the body in bushes near the housing society, the official said, adding that further probe was on into the case.