MUMBAI: Police have cracked the case of rape and murder case of 23-year-old techie Esther Anuhya , whose decomposed body was found in mangroves in Kanjurmarg in Vikhroli in January, with the detention of a habitual criminal from Nashik. On Sunday, the highly placed sources close to the investigation said the special Investigating team (SIT) inquiring into the murder has matched the suspect to the person seen walking with Esther in the CCTV footage from LTT on January 5 when she arrived in city from Machlipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The SIT members questioning the suspect at their Kurla office to corroborate the evidence they had gathered in the case before making the information public.

The one and half month wild chase ended when a police informer tipped off one of the members of the SIT that the man is a same criminal who has previous criminal cases against him in railway jurisdiction. Sources said that on Monday police commissioner Rakesh Maria and joint commissioner of police (crime) Sadanand Date are likely to address the media and give more information on the case. Despite repeated requests, the officers refused to divulge the name of the suspect or details of the crime, saying that the probe is still going on. "He has been just detained on suspicion; we have still not come to any final conclusion. Please keep patience. Until everything is corroborated, it would not be proper for us to give any information," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The other members of the SIT had switched off their cell phones and were said to be busy extracting the details of the crime. Sources said that there are several unanswered questions in the case, viz how the man convinced Esther to come along with him, why and with whom Esther was talking on the cell phone and from LTT how her body was taken to Kanjurmarg. Interestingly, the case has been cracked by the same team led by Assistant commissioner of police Praful Bhosle which had solved the acid attack case of Delhi resident Preeti Rathi.

What has baffled the police is the fact that the Government Railway police (GRP) did not make any efforts to detain the suspect detain although he is a habitual railway offender. In the Rathi acid attack, too, the GRP had interrogated the accused Ankur Panwar but failed to make any breakthrough while Praful Bhosle team did not believe his lies that he had gone for a hotel job interview to Haridwar and team prefer to go all the way to Haridwar and caught his lies.

Esther, who was employed with TCS in Goregaon, went missing on reaching LTT on January 5, a day after she left from her hometown of Machilipatnam. Esther had boarded the train for Mumbai at Vishakhapatnam on January 4 and landed at LTT at 5.30am. Ten days later, her family members found her half-burnt body was found in a decomposed state off the Eastern Express Highway in Kanjurmarg.

Esther alighted at LTT from a train on Jan 5. Her body was found in Kanjurmarg on Jan 16 CCTV footage from LTT shows Esther glued to a cellphone while walking out at 5.10am. A man in white shirt and jeans is seen carrying Esther’s luggage.

Forensic report by Wednesday

Forensic Science Laboratory director M Malve said the forensic report in Esther’s case would be ready to be handed over to the police by Wednesday. However, sources in the police and FSL said it would be difficult for the forensic experts to come up with any concrete conclusion as the body was partly decomposed and out in the open for nearly 10 days. The police said her body was found with only undergarments on, raising suspicion that she had been raped before being murdered. She was wearing jeans

when she went missing from LTT, said an officer. FSL sources said they have twice carried out tests on the half-charred body but have not been able to come to conclusion as to whether she was sexually assaulted. The police have requested the FSL to send their scientific findings on a priority basis.

