Tattoo with names helps Mumbai police arrest killers of RTI activist: ’If anything happens to me...’

An RTI (Right to Information Act) activist was allegedly murdered at a spa in the Worli area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, this week. The man, who had several criminal cases registered against him, was found with his throat slit. The murder case took a dramatic turn when 22 names were found tattooed on the victim's thigh. Those were the names of his potential enemies.

Gurappa Waghmare was reportedly murdered at Soft Touch Spa in central Mumbai's Worli in the early hours of July 24, Wednesday, police said. So far, police said they arrested at least three suspects in connection with the crime.

Among the three who were held included spa owner Santosh Sherekar – whose name was among these 22 names inscribed on the victim's thighs, said a police official on Thursday. Besides him, the two alleged assailants were also arrested and two more persons were apprehended, news agency PTI reported.

DCP Crime Branch Datta Nalawade said the crime was reported at Worli police station on July 24. He added that the crime branch is parallelly working on the case.

The victim is said to be a history sheeter. "He had 8 cognizable offences and 22 NCR [non-cognizable reports] registered against him," Nalawade said.

Contract killers hired

Sharing details of the crimes, the officer said the contract killers were hired to kill Gurappa Waghmare.

Sherekar, the spa owner, had allegedly given ‘supari’, or contract, for killing Waghmare as he was fed up with Waghmare’s extortion threats, the police official said. He allegedly paid ₹6 lakh to Mohammed Feroze Ansari (26) to kill Waghmare.

"One of the arrested accused is the owner of the spa where the incident occurred, the other two are accused had taken the killing contract from the spa owner and executed it," police said.

Tattoo helps police crack murder case

The officer said a few names were found tattooed on both thighs of the deceased. "It was also found tattooed that if something happened to him, those individuals would be responsible for it," police said.

"Around 22 names were tattooed...," he added

Why was RTI activist murdered

According to The victim, Waghmare, allegedly used to extort money from spa owners in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar from 2010 and had criminal cases of extortion, rape and molestation registered against him.

It was found that Ansari and Sherekar knew each other as Ansari also ran a spa at Nallasopara near Mumbai, which was shut down due to a raid last year. "The raid had followed Waghmare’s complaint to the authorities," the official said.

Police told PTI that Ansari approached Sherekar to stop Waghmare from filing such complaints and extorting money from spa owners. Sherekar allegedly asked him to have Waghmare eliminated.

"Ansari then contacted Saquib Ansari, a Delhi resident, and the conspiracy was hatched three months ago," police added. After conducting a recce and studying Waghmare’s routine for three months, the accused planned to kill him at Sherekar’s spa, the official said.

How was the murder executed

CCTV footage outside a liquor bar in Sion where Waghmare had celebrated his birthday with his 21-year-old girlfriend on Tuesday evening showed that the two assailants, wearing raincoats, were tailing him there. The duo followed Waghmare to Sherekar’s spa on a scooter later that night.

Police found that one of the assailants bought two gutka packets from a paan shop near the liquor bar, paying through a UPI system. UPI record showed that his name was Mohammed Feroze Ansari.

The investigation revealed that Sherekar had received multiple calls from the phone number linked to Ansari’s UPI ID. It established the link between the two.

Feroze and Saquib Ansari entered the spa around 1.30 am on Wednesday, took Waghmare’s girlfriend to another room, and then allegedly murdered Waghmare using the separated blades of a pair of scissors costing ₹7,000.

One of the blades was used to slit his throat, while the other was used to stab him in the stomach.

"Waghmare’s girlfriend claimed to have learnt about the murder only at 9.30 in the morning and informed Sherekar, who took over two hours to inform the police," the official said.

Accused arrested

Police had already detained Sherekar for questioning, and put him under arrest after interrogation throughout the day. Meanwhile, Feroze Ansari was subsequently arrested by a crime branch team from Nallasopara, while Saquib Ansari was picked up from Kota in Rajasthan en route to New Delhi along with two more people suspected to be involved in the murder conspiracy.

A total of five people, thus, have been apprehended, the official said, adding that they are also probing the role of Waghmare’s girlfriend.

(With inputs from agencies)