From Brother’s Suspicion to Rickshaw Rides: Grim Details Emerge in Navi Mumbai Dismemberment Case

Horrific new details have surfaced after the Rabale MIDC police successfully cracked a 11-month-old 'blind' murder case, revealing a calculated plot involving strangulation, body dismemberment, and midnight trips in an auto-rickshaw.

The suspects Sunita Kushwah (40) and her paramour, Rahul Dashrath Prajapati (30), an auto-rickshaw driver are now in police custody for the brutal killing of Sunita’s 50-year-old husband, Baliram Suryanath Kushwah, in August 2025. They have been booked under sections 103 (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Midnight Assassination and a Three-Piece Cut

When Baliram discovered his wife's extramarital affair with the Ghansoli-based auto driver, daily domestic brawls shook the household. Resolving to eliminate him, the duo waited for the perfect window of opportunity.

• The Midnight Attack: On August 9, 2025, after ensuring the children were safely away at a relative's house, the duo targeted Baliram while he was fast asleep. They first strangled him and then slit his throat with a sharp cutter to ensure he was dead.
• The Dismemberment: To facilitate easy disposal and avoid arousing suspicion while moving a body out of Yadav Nagar, the accused used a sharp blade to hack Baliram’s body into three parts: the head, the torso, and the legs.
• The Rickshaw Transport: The severed remains were tightly wrapped in separate gunny sacks and bedsheets. Under the cover of total darkness, Rahul loaded the sacks into his own auto-rickshaw.
• Scattering the Evidence: The duo drove deep into the secluded Gawli Dev hill forest. To minimize the chances of the body being found intact, they dumped the three sacks at entirely different, isolated spots across the dense woods.
• Monetizing the Crime Scene: In a chilling move to secure a normal routine, Sunita promptly rented out the Yadav Nagar house where the murder took place, using the rental income to support her new life with Rahul in Ghansoli.

The Brother's Visit Shatters an 11-Month Lie

For nearly a year, the crime remained perfectly hidden as Sunita stonewalled inquiries by telling neighbors and extended family that Baliram had abandoned them after a fight. The elaborate charade finally crumbled due to the persistence of Baliram's brother.

In April 2026, suspicious over his brother’s prolonged, silent absence, Baliram's brother paid Sunita a visit. When confronted with direct questions, Sunita gave highly evasive and contradictory explanations that immediately raised red flags. Refusing to buy her story, the brother approached the Rabale MIDC police and registered a formal missing persons complaint.

Though the suspects constantly changed their mobile phones and discarded old SIM cards to erase their digital footprints, Senior Police Inspector Devidas Kathole’s team deployed advanced technical surveillance. Call Detail Records (CDR) proved the duo was in constant, heavy communication, completely breaking their claims of being distant acquaintances. Following a grueling interrogation, both cracked and detailed the entire plot.

While some skeletal remains have already been recovered from the forest, forensics teams are still searching the hills for the remaining body parts.