Mumbai: Meera-Bhayander, the case of a woman’s skull found near Pirkunda Dargah in Virar, has been resolved by the team of Crime Branch-3 of Vasai-Virar Police Commissionerate. Due to a family dispute, a person living in Nalasopara killed his wife and beheaded her to hide the body. This was revealed after two months. After registering a case, the team of Crime Branch-3 identified the body and arrested the accused husband within 24 hours.
49-year-old Harish Hippargi, a resident of Rahmat Nagar in Nalasopara-East, runs a business of fake jewelery. He lived with 51 -year -old Utla Hippargi and his 22 -year -old son. Utla had a son from her first husband. She was originally from West Bengal. There was a family dispute between the two about the child. There was a fight between the two on 8 January 2025. During the quarrel, Harish strangled him to death. After this, his body was kept in the coffin and taken on the railway track near Mohka City area of Virar East. At three o’clock in the morning, he strangled her with a knife and threw the body into the drain. Then his head was put in a journey bag. With this bag, he took him to a deserted place near Pirkunda Dargah near Virar Phata. He threw the bag into the bushes hundred meters away.
On coming home, he told the child that his mother was leaving home and going to the village. He felt relieved after the last rites of his body. However, on Thursday, on the evening of Holi, some youths passing by Pirkunda Dargah stopped to use the toilet. Then he found a woman’s skull in that journey bag. 64 days after the murder, the head was rotten and turned into a skull.
Accused Harish killed his wife and hide her body. He had put his head in the journey bag, but forgot to remove other things. He had to pay a heavy price for this mistake. Police found a small bag of jewelers at the scene. The Crime Branch-3 team contacted the owner of a jeweler in 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in connection with this bag. The police had sought a list of customers who had bought gold from there and went to Mumbai. A list of 8 such people was found. The police started calling everyone. All his phones were working, only Utla Hippargi’s phone was closed. The police got suspicious from here. The police then discovered the number of her husband Harish Hippargi from that phone. He also stopped. The police discovered his address and found that he was a resident of Rahmat Nagar. But he left home from there. Meanwhile, with the help of West Bengal Police, the police detected the original house of Utla Hippargi. However, it was discovered that he was not in contact for two months. Therefore, the police concluded that the skull that was found was her.
Accused Harish had changed his house. So it became difficult to find him. During the investigation, the police got information that the accused had bought a bike. Throughout the night, the police started searching for a bike in the area and found it standing under a building in Rahmat Nagar, Nalasopara. After which the police arrested Harish Hippargi from that building at night and arrested him. Senior Police Inspector of Crime Branch-3, Shahuraj Runvere, said that during interrogation, he confessed to the murder. The body of Utpal Hippargi was thrown into a drain near the railway tracks and the police is searching for him. It is noteworthy that the team of Crime Branch-3 arrested the accused within 24 hours of the crime.
