NAVI MUMBAI: The case of missing policewoman Ashwini Bidre-Gore (37) has taken a new turn. One of the four men arrested for the April 11, 2016 disappearance of the assistant police inspector has confessed that she was killed by senior inspector Abhay Kurundkar, the prime accused in the case, the police say.According to the the confession by Mahesh Falnikar, a close friend of Kurundkar, the senior inspector had used a power cutter to cut up Ashwini’s body, store the parts in a refrigerator at his flat in Bhayander, and dump them over two days into Vasai creek. There are two more accused in the case: Kurundkar’s driver Kundan Bhandari and Raju Patil, a nephew of BJP leader and former cabinet minister Eknath Khadse. On Sunday, there will be a search of the body in the creek.Kurundkar and Ashwini were in an extramarital relationship from 2011. Both were married, with children, but while Ashwini told her husband about the matter and thus got estranged, Kurundkar had evidently kept the relationship under wraps. The policewoman’s brother Anand Bidre had alleged that Kurundkar lured her with the promise of marriage and compelled her to leave her husband. He had said that when Ashwini started insisting on Kurundkar to keep his promise, the later threatened to harm her.Following Falnikar’s confession, the Navi Mumbai police ’s crime branch has added to the policewoman’s kidnapping case the charges of murder and causing disappearance of evidence.On Friday, crime branch and forensics teams, along with Falnikar and Bhandari reached Kurundkar’s flat in Mukund Niwas, Bhayander. Kurundkar’s wife, and teenage son and daughter, live in Kolhapur, as do Ashwini’s estranged husband Raju Gore and their 9-year-old daughter.The police have seized the refrigerator, where Ashwini’s head and limbs were kept; her torso didn’t fit into the fridge and so was kept in a trunk. A Panvel court sent Bhandari and Falnikar to police custody till March 5 and 9, respectively.It was Kurundkar’s call data record that led the police to the other three accused. Based on cell phone tower location, all four were found to be at the same place on April 12, 2016, a day after Ashwini’s alleged murder, when her torso was disposed of in the creek.Based on cellphone locations, the police believe that Kurundkar and his aides were together when the trunk with the torso was dumped around midnight. The mobile tower locations of all four were shown to be the same for 45 minutes. Thereafter, as a theory goes, Patil and driver Bhandari returned to Kurundkar’s flat, but the cop and his friend Falnikar waited on the Vasai creek bridge till 3am to check if the trunk risked retuning to the shore.A police officer said, “In the remand report submitted on Thursday to the Panvel court, the police pointed to the case diary with Falnikar’s confession. At present, the dairy is accessible only to the investigating officer and the court.”ACP Sangita Alphanso, who is on the case, confirmed Falnikar’s confession.Ashwini’s estranged husband said, “Right from day one had I suspected that Kurundkar had murdered my wife, which has now been finally disclosed in the probe. The Bidre and Gore families are indebted to ACP Alphanso. It was she who registered a kidnapping case in the matter in January 2017. After being re-appointed in the investigating team as per our demand, she has helped detect murder.”