Kamothe murder: Wife killer arrested from Solapur temple

As per the police, the accused, identified as Birappa Shrirang Shejal, 36, had visited a temple to seek forgiveness. The accused was eating the food offered to the devotees when he was arrested.

Navi Mumbai: A 36-year-old man from Kamothe, who fled after allegedly killing his wife, was arrested on Wednesday from a temple in Solapur.

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As per the police, the accused, identified as Birappa Shrirang Shejal, 36, had visited a temple to seek forgiveness. The accused was eating the food offered to the devotees when he was arrested.

The Unit II of the Crime Branch acted on information passed on by Namdev Metkari, the brother of the victim – Shilwanta Shejal, 33. Namdev told the police that among the places where Birappa could be hiding was the Balumama temple at Solapur as he often visited that place.

Meanwhile, another team of police, which was working on the technical evidence of tracing the CCTV footage, had found him boarding a train from Kamothe station to Kurla and then another train from Kurla to Solapur.

In the footage of Kamothe Railway Station, he was seen holding a polythene bag which was suspected to have the murder weapon. “The accused said he had killed his wife using a hammer and then threw the weapon into Vashi Creek. According to him, the couple frequently had fights over money matters and that day she held him by the collar which irked him. He then killed her,” said senior police inspector Ravindra Patil, Unit II, Crime Branch.

Meanwhile, Metkari said that her sister’s kids are currently staying with them. “As per the kids, on the day of the murder, they had started the fight and the husband had eventually said that only after killing you, I will get peace and left home to drop the children at school.”

“My sister was lying in a pool of blood on the bed. This means she was probably sleeping when he killed her. After dropping the kids off, he went back to kill her. It was not a murder which happened in a fit of rage, but a planned one,” he added.

Metkari added that ever since the marriage, Birappa, who worked as an accountant with the State Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) office in South Mumbai, had been harassing his sister.

Shilwanta had also filed a domestic violence case in court, which she withdrew in the Lok Adalat held in February after he apologised to her before the relatives and advocates.