In May 27 last year, a 65-year old businessman Karabhai Rambhai Suva from Gujarat visited Thane for some deal. He checked into a hotel near Thane railway station and hours later, was found murdered in his room. It took ten days for the police to catch the culprit, a juvenile, but not before the trail led them to Bengaluru, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal. Suva needed some money and hence handed his debit card to a housekeeping staff at the hotel and asked to withdraw Rs 16,000 for him, after giving him his PIN, the police said. While withdrawing the money, the hotel boy saw the balance amount in Suva’s account and decided to kill him and to run away with his cash and debit card. He went to a nearby shop, bought a sharp object. He returned to Suva’s room and stabbed him to death. The incident came to light around 6.30 p m and Thane Nagar Police was informed. A case of murder and robbery was registered.

From the CCTV footage of the hotel, the police found the hotel boy entering Suva’s room a number of times. On enquiry with the other staff, police was informed that the boy abruptly left in the afternoon, saying that he was going back to native place as his mother suddenly fell sick. The boy escaped with Suva’s mobile phone, ATM card, and Rs 16,000 withdrawn. On suspicion, the police went to Bengaluru but could not get any lead from there. The police realised that the boy had bought a new SIM card and inserted it into Suva’s mobile phone. By tracking the secret code of the phone, they came to know that the phone is in Uttar Pradesh and the police went there. Following the signal, the police went to Nepal border and after waiting for 26 hours, he along with his grandfather was found getting into a vehicle. The Thane Nagar Police followed the vehicle and apprehended him. He was produced at the local court in Gorakhpur and brought to Mumbai on transit remand.