MUMBAI: A commercial sex worker, Aarti Yadav (30), was arrested by the Santa Cruz police on Saturday in connection with the murder of a constable , Dilip Borole.

Borole’s partially charred body was found in a slum colony on Juhu Tara Road on Friday. Police officials said the two had a financial dispute.

“Yadav may have sought help from a male acquaintance in the killing. We are also investigating other possible motives in the case,” said a senior police officer. Borole was posted as a driver with the Bandra police station. He resided in Kalyan with his wife and daughter.

“Thursday was his weekly off and he is believed to have visited Yadav’s Juhu dwelling at night. He did not report for work the next day,” said an official from the Santa Cruz police station. Yadav had moved into a rented dwelling in the Indira Nagar slums on Juhu Tara Road around 10 days ago. Borole knew the area as he had worked at the Santa Cruz police station between 2008 and 2013. Borole and Yadav reportedly had an altercation in her tenement.

“Yadav owed him money and Borole had been insisting that she return the cash soon. Yadav offered him a drink laced with a sedative. After he passed out, she strangled him to death. She intended to dispose off the body. On Friday, she wrapped the body in a mattress, before setting it on fire in her room after which Yadav fled,” said assistant commissioner DO Jadhav. Yadav’s neighbour, Raju Sharma, called up the police after finding foul smell emanating from her shanty. The police had to break open the lock to enter the hut.

The fire was doused and Borole’s body was sent for post-mortem to Cooper Hospital. A rope was tied around Borole’s neck.

The statement of Yadav’s landlord, Javed Khan, has been recorded. “We arrested Yadav from Goregaon and she has been booked under Section 302 of IPC for murder,” said an official.

