Dipak Mansingh Thoke : “Solving Crime: Palghar Police Crack Case with Fingerprints, Arrest Record & Hunch | Mumbai News”

Earlier this month, authorities discovered a partially decomposed body on the riverbanks in Mokhada, located in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. The unidentified man was found wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, and a scarf around his neck. Despite the state of decomposition, the body featured distinctive tattoos that investigators hoped would aid in identification.

The Palghar police promptly circulated images of the tattoos, which included ‘Rana Rajput’ in the Devanagari script, ‘Aai Baba’ in Marathi, and the letters ‘S.D.’ inside a heart on his arms, as well as ‘Tamanna’ in Marathi near the thumb. However, these efforts initially yielded no results, as there were no missing person reports matching the description.

With no substantial leads, investigators faced a dead end. However, they recalled observing cut marks on the man’s wrists, indicating possible drug addiction. Based on this observation, they decided to take his fingerprints, which were sent to the fingerprint bureau. This bureau maintains records of prints from all arrested individuals across the country. Fortunately, once the prints were entered into the system, the man was identified as Dipak Mansingh Thoke, a 25-year-old resident of Ulhasnagar.

Further investigation revealed that Thoke had been previously arrested by the Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP) for assaulting two individuals at the railway station. Authorities quickly located these individuals and brought them in for questioning. Although initially unaware of their involvement in the crime, Saikumar Kadamachi and Kishore Jitendra Shetye confessed to the murder and implicated their accomplice, Pentayya Janglya Chittari.

The accused individuals disclosed that they were involved in selling water bottles at railway stations. However, Thoke, who was a part of their group, had developed an addiction to alcohol and drugs. He demanded money from the trio in exchange for allowing them to work at the railway station. After a previous altercation, Kadamachi and Shetye reported Thoke’s assault to the Kalyan GRP, resulting in his arrest.

Following his release on bail, Thoke resumed threatening the group. On February 1, he went to Kadamachi’s residence in Titwala, demanding money and offering him alcohol. The two began drinking, and Shetye joined them. At some point, the duo brutally assaulted Thoke with a pipe and transported him to the Kasara Ghat area in Chittari’s car.

Once they reached Karegaon area on the ghat around 1 am on February 2, they stopped the vehicle, stabbed Thoke multiple times, smashed his head with a stone, and ultimately threw his body from a 125-foot height into the Vaitarna river.

The accused believed they had successfully committed the crime without detection. However, the police managed to identify Thoke due to his arrest records with the Kalyan GRP. Surprisingly, Thoke’s relatives had seen images of his tattoos but did not pay attention to them, assuming he was still alive.

The successful identification of the partially decomposed body brings some closure to the investigation. Authorities can now focus on building a case against the three accused individuals for their involvement in this tragic crime.