Mumbai, Jun 30: A viral video of the Mumbai local train stabbing incident helped the Government Railway Police (GRP) recover the knife allegedly used in the crime after a hotel manager informed the investigators that his staff had unknowingly found the murder weapon.
In a related development, a magistrate court on Tuesday extended the police custody of the accused, Roshan Suvarna, till July 6 after the police sought his custody for seven more days for further investigation.
Suvarna was arrested for allegedly stabbing 22-year-old co-passenger Mayank Lohar to death inside a first-class compartment of a local train between Andheri and Borivali stations last week following an argument over keeping the door shut.
According to the police, during his previous custodial interrogation, Suvarna confessed that he had been carrying the knife in his bag for the past four to five months. He claimed he had taken the sharp, maroon-handled knife around seven months ago from an Amazon warehouse where a friend worked.
Police said Suvarna told investigators that he threw the knife away after getting off at Borivali railway station. However, despite searching the route indicated by the accused, officers were initially unable to recover the weapon.
The investigation took a significant turn after a video of the incident went viral. A restaurant manager in Borivali approached the police after watching the clip and informed them that one of his staff members had found a knife in a galli (alley) near platforms 2 and 3 of Borivali station while out shopping.
Unaware of its possible connection to the crime, the staff member had taken the knife to the restaurant’s staff room and stored it in a cardboard box. Police later recovered the weapon and said it was the same knife allegedly used in the stabbing.
The court was told that further custodial interrogation was required to determine why the accused had been carrying the knife for several months and whether he had used it in any previous offences. Police also said they needed to investigate the motive behind the crime.
Opposing the demand for the extension of the custody, advocate Jaywant Patil, appearing for Suvarna, argued that the police had cited the same grounds while seeking the earlier remand and had already been given sufficient time to ascertain the motive behind the offence.
After hearing both sides, the court extended Suvarna’s police custody until July 6. (PTI)
