75-year-old petrol pump owner found dead in car on Mum-Ahm hwy, driver prime suspect

MUMBAI: The police have launched a manhunt to arrest a 54-year-old driver of a Virar-based petrol pump owner Ramchand Kakrani, 75, after he was found dead in his car on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway with strangulation marks on his body and tied limbs on Monday afternoon.
Khakrani, a resident of Ulhasnagar, was reported missing since Sunday night after he left the petrol pump in Chandansar, Virar.
According to Naigaon police officials, the prime suspect in the murder is Mukesh Khubchandani, 54, Khakrani’s driver who is absconding.
The investigators said Khakrani arrived at Rahil petrol pump around 3pm on Sunday and after collecting cash of ₹50,000, he left for his home in Ulhasnagar around 5pm. However, when he did not reach home, his son called him and his driver to find out their location, but they were not reachable.
Khakrani’s son then approached the police and registered a case of kidnapping against the driver. Ramesh Bhame, senior police inspector of Naigaon police station, said that on Monday around 4pm they spotted a Hyundai Creta on the northbound stretch near Tungareshwar in Naigaon.
Upon reaching the spot, the police found Khakrani’s body on the passenger seat of the car with his hands tied. The police officers said that they suspected that Khakrani was strangulated, “The bag with cash and the driver is missing, and we have found the mobile phones of Khakrani and Khubchandani in the car,” said Bhame. Based on the initial evidence, the police have registered an FIR under section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“We suspect that Khubchandi committed the murder with the help of one or more accomplices. We are now trying to trace Khubchandani,” said a police officer from Naigaon police station. Khakrani’s body has been sent for postmortem to find out the exact cause of his death.