Money dispute, hit job gone wrong led to land dealers’ deaths: Police

NAVI MUMBAI: The investigation into the mysterious disappearance of two real estate dealers from Navi Mumbai has revealed that it was a hit job ordered by one of the two which went wrong and resulted in the death of both.
Police officials said that Sumit Jain had given a ₹50 lakh contract to kill Amir Khanzada, president of the Raigad unit of the NCP (Sharad Pawar), after a land deal between them went wrong. Jain was only supposed to injure himself in the episode to throw the police off track, but he too died of haemorrhage and shock.
The body of Khanzada (42) was found in the forest area of Karnala near Panvel on Wednesday morning. The entire conspiracy, according to the police, was hatched by Jain, Khanzada’s associate of over three years, whose body too was found near Gagode village of Pen tehsil in Raigad district.
The Navi Mumbai police have arrested five accused hired by Jain through another long-term associate who is also involved in land dealings. The five accused arrested are identified as Vithal Baban Nakade (43), Jaising alias Raja Madhu Mudhaliar (38), Anand alias Andri Rajan Kunj (39), Virendra alias Goriya Bharat Kadam (24) and Ankush alias Ankya Prakash Sitapure (35). The sixth accused, currently absconding, is identified as Rehan.
“Early investigations have revealed shocking findings,” said additional police commissioner Deepak Sakore. “The murder was planned by Sumit Jain along with Nakhade, and the motive was a dispute over the profit-sharing from a bogus land deal executed in Pali, Raigad. Jain, through Nakhade, hired the accused to kill Khanzada for ₹50 lakh, of which ₹1.5 lakh was paid upfront and ₹3.5 lakh after Khanzada’s murder. These are hardened criminals with multiple murder, cheating and other criminal cases against them. They have spent at least five years in jail.”
The land deal which led to the killing is related to the sale of a 3.5-acre plot proposed by Nakhade. The land sale was executed for ₹3.5 crore, of which ₹60 lakh was shared between Jain and Nakhade.
“Even though Jain and Khanzada always worked together, they didn’t in this particular deal. So the money was shared between Jain and Nakhade,” said deputy commissioner of Police (Zone1) Pankaj Dahane. “Khanzada, however, insisted on getting a share from the sale. Jain was already under immense financial duress owing to a debt of crores of rupees owed to various people and, therefore, Khanzada’s demand for a profit share in the deal in which he had no role became the trigger for him to hatch the murder plan.”
On August 22, Khanzada and Jain were reported by their families to be missing. The duo had left from their residences in Nerul on the night of August 21, stating they had an important meeting to attend. Acting on the missing complaint, the police, with the help of GPS, traced the location of the vehicle in which the duo had travelled. It was found abandoned at Khopoli with bullet marks, two shells on the car seat and blood stains.
The following day, during the search, Jain’s body was found in Pen Taluka. He was reported to have been shot on the legs along with multiple stab wounds. From here on, the police began their investigation, which included tracing the owner of a bike on which two of the accused had travelled along with the duo on the day of the incident.
“CCTV footage of the day from the area from where both the deceased left revealed that two more men had accompanied them,” said an official involved in the investigation. “The bike on which the men came was reported to be stolen, and another vehicle used to aid the bike theft was found to be belonging to Nakhade. With his arrest, we managed to catch hold of the remaining accused.”
The two men present in the car besides the two deceased were Mudaliar and the absconding Rehan. According to the police, Khanzada was shot dead instantly at Nerul by Mudaliar and the body was disposed of at Karnala.
“From there, Jain and the two contract killers continued their journey,” said assistant police commissioner (crime) Ajay Landge. “Acting on his plan to mislead the police, Jain used a country-made pistol and shot himself on his leg. En route, however, there was a dispute on the remaining money from the ₹50 lakh to be paid for killing Khanzada, and that led to one of the contract killers stabbing Jain multiple times on the leg again. This resulted in excessive bleeding and eventually led to his death. The killers dumped his body at Pen and abandoned the vehicle as well.”
Further investigations are underway in the matter.