Scrap dealer, son, murder 26-year-old inspired by Bollywood movie Drishyam'

Pune: A scrap dealer and his son have been arrested for allegedly murdering a 27-year-old private moneylender from Chikhli, Pune, in a case that seems to have its escape plan inspired from Bollywood crime thriller ‘Dhrishyam’.

According to media reports, the arrested duo, Samidullah Maniyar (54) and Mehboob Maniyar (26) got the idea to dispose the corpse of the victim, which was found to be buried in a plot allegedly rented by the accused, from the Bollywood flick ‘Dhrishyam’. The victim was identified to be Shriram Shivaji Walekar

Police officials were quoted as saying that the duo confessed to have tried to destroy all evidence including the crime, similar to the movie’s storyline.  

According to Devendra Chavan, assistant inspector, Nigdi police, the suspects had planned to kill Walekar as he was pursuing the accused for money he had lent them.

"The father-son duo rented an empty plot near their godown. After slitting Walekar's throat inside their scrap godown on September 27 last year, the suspects then covered his body in a plastic sheet and buried it in the rented plot," Chavan was quoted saying. He further added that the highly decomposed body of Walekar was exhumed on Friday.

According to the report, the victim’s father lodged a missing person complaint with the Nigdi police on September 28 last year, where he had stated that Walekar had been missing from the previous morning. During the probe, police discovered that he was a private moneylender and started investigating people whom he had lent money to.

The investigation also showed that Samidullah had previously borrowed money on numerous occasions from Walekar. Furthermore, the police also received a tip-off that Walekar and Samidulla had an argument regarding the borrowed money.

After checking the call logs of Walekar and Samidullah, the police ascertained that they were in contact with each other since September last year.

On visiting his house, it was known that Samidullah had gone to visit his native with his son. Thus, the police took Mehboob under custody immediately after he returned to Kudalwadi on Thursday.  While he initially refused any connection with the victim, Mehboob later confessed and also revealed his father’s involvement. Samidullah was a arrested a day later after Mehboob confessed.

The duo had reportedly borrowed Rs 5 lakh for business. The spat started after the victim started demanding Rs 8.40 lakh including interest, which they did not want to pay. The report further stated that investigations were ongoing.