Footpath where Ravindrakumar Bali stay.

PUNE: Ex-Army officer Ravindrakumar Bali, who lived in a tent on a pavement in the Pune Camp area, was allegedly murdered on the night of February 1by a former call centre employee following a scuffle over a matchbox.

A crime branch team headed by assistant commissioner of police Sameer Shaikh and inspector Sitaram More arrested the suspect, Robinson alias Robin Anthony Lazarus (20), from Panvel in Mumbai. Lazarus, who worked with a call centre as a tele-caller, fled to Panvel after the murder and started working with a roadside Chinese food joint there.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Pradip Deshpande told reporters on Monday, “Lazarus had asked Bali for a matchbox but the latter refused thinking that he might snatch his belongings. Bali also raised an alarm, which led to a scuffle between the two. Lazarus then picked up a paver block and hit Bali on the head, killing him.”

Deshpande said that Lazarus lives in the servants’ quarters of a club on Tarapore Road in Camp. His mother works as a domestic help in Hong Kong while his father sells lemonade in Camp.

Bali, familiar to local residents as an English-speaking homeless man, was an alumnus of the National Defence Academy.

He was cashiered from the army as a captain after 17 years in service and had fallen in bad times.

He lived a reclusive, homeless existence in a neatly-kept mountaineering tent on the pavement of Dr Coyaji Road in Camp for the past few years.

Tip-off leads police to killer of ex-armyman

Deshpande said, “The investigators zeroed in on Lazarus following a tipoff and subsequent verification of his movement and details.”

Lazarus and his friend were on their way to Camp on a two-wheeler after attending a party in Mohammadwadi where they had consumed liquor, Deshpande said. “They ran out of fuel on Coyaji Road. They were pushing their two-wheeler and decided to take a cigarette break near Bali’s tent. Since they did not have a lighter or matchbox, they woke up Bali and asked him for a matchbox,” he said.

Bali thought Lazarus had come to steal his valuables and refused to give his matchbox. “They had a minor scuffle and Bali raised an alarm. Suddenly, Lazarus picked up the paver block and hit Bali on the head,” Deshpande said.

Lazarus and his friend fled after the incident. “Lazarus was spotted running through different lanes and along MG Road in CCTV footage retrieved by the police. We are ascertaining the role of his friend,” Deshpande said.

ACP Shaikh said Lazarus has been booked in the past for petrol and cellphone thefts. The cases were registered with the Bund Garden police.

“Lazarus celebrated his birthday with his friend on February 4 and then went underground. He even changed his hairstyle and started working with the Chinese food stall in Panvel. He has studied up to Standard XII and worked in a call centre. He speaks fluent English. He took money from friends before fleeing to Panvel,” Shaikh said.

The city crime branch contacted Bali’s nephew to get more details about him. However, the nephew told the police that Bali had severed all ties with the family for the past 19 years.

