Most Mumbai police personnel are inured to gory details that emerge from murderous crimes as they deal with brutal incidents on frequent occasions. Yet, the Arnala Coastal Police have said that their 'eyes popped out and intestines felt like they were ripped out of their abdomens' as they sat through killer Pintoo Sharma's narration of the horrific details of how he tore the skin off and chopped up a body into tiny pieces before flushing them down the toilet. Here's the story of the gruesome murder that shocked Mumbai
Updated on : 05 February,2019 06:00 PM IST
Hundreds of micro-pieces of human flesh were recovered from the blocked drainage of a housing society in Virar West in January 2019. The police had to trace the head and bones of the body, and the gender of the deceased was impossible to ascertain. The pieces were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina where scientists conducted a dactylography of the chopped fingers to ascertain its identity.
(Dactylography is the scientific study of fingerprints to ascertain identity)
The matter came to light after workers treating a choked drainage system in Bachraj Paradise of Evershine Avenue saw three pieces of human fingers floating in the drain when it was opened for repair. A local resident told mid-day that the residents had noticed a foul smell in the area for 10 days, which they initially thought was coming from an animal carcass from the nearby drain. They were later shocked to find small pieces of human flesh floating in the drain when it was opened
The government hospital in-charge Dr Rugved R Dudhat, who visited the spot along with a forensic team, too said that his team initially thought that the pieces were of animal flesh. He said that the overall weight of these pieces could be nearly 40 kg
The Arnala police made a breakthrough by detaining a 42-year-old man, identified as Pintoo Sharma. The suspect was brought to Virar from Santacruz in Mumbai. During sustained questioning by the cops, he confessed that he murdered a person, identified as Ganesh Kalodkar and cut the body of the victim into pieces and flushed them down the toilet
Pintoo Sharma told the police that he killed Ganesh Kalodkar, 58, by smashing his head following a heated argument. According to the police, Sharma said that he was upset with Kalodkar as the latter had apparently delayed payment of a loan. Pintoo Sharma lent Ganesh Koladkar Rs 1 lakh and managed to receive Rs 40,000 back
In picture: Ganesh Kalodkar
An officer privy to the investigation told mid-day that Pintoo Sharma took three days to dispose of the body. According to the officer, Sharma allegedly returned to flat no. 602 of Bachraj Paradise after separating the flesh from the bones. He then walked into the Virar flat, cut the body into pieces, flushed them down the toilet, stuffed the bones into a plastic bag and flung it from a running train into the Bhayandar creek and returned to his Santacruz home
Pintoo Sharma told the police that he used his bare hands and pliers to remove the stubborn bit of flesh from the bone that had escaped the hacksaw blade. He tore the skin off and chopped up a body into tiny pieces before flushing them down the toilet. The police have recovered three hacksaw blades, one screwdriver and one pair of pliers that Sharma allegedly used to peel the skin off and scrape the flesh off the bones of Ganesh Koladkar whom he had murdered in a Virar flat
In pic: Pintoo Sharma
The police team probing the barbaric murder case of Ganesh Koladkar have come up against even more stomach-churning details of the crime. During questioning, the accused, Pintoo Sharma, allegedly told the police that he had first read up extensively on the murder case of Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore in order to ensure Koladkar's murder was not easily solved
In picture: Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore
Pintoo Sharma told the Arnala cops that he has done a certificate course on Anatomy and Physiology of Human Body from the University of Mumbai and so he was well aware of the human skeletal system. Sharma had allegedly bought three hacksaw blades and a stone to sharpen them on from a shop in Santacruz. The officer said that while chopping up the body, Sharma watched a YouTube tutorial to learn how to chop it into multiple pieces
Besides murder weapons, the cops also recovered four buckets, one mug and pieces of floor cleaning cloth from the flat in Bachraj Paradise. Pintoo Sharma would collect the chopped pieces of flesh in one of the buckets, which he then flushed into the toilet after it filled up. He had kept the body locked inside the bathroom
Unable to wrap their heads around the claim that Pintoo Sharma brutally hacked 53-year-old Ganesh Koladkar to death over a mere Rs 60,000, the police are investigating an angle of necrophilia (sexual act with a corpse). Sharma's wife, Sunita, told mid-day that 'her husband has been falsely implicated in the case'. She said there would be behavioural changes in a person if he is involved in a horrendous murder and chopping up of a body into multiple pieces. But, her husband returned home, behaved normally with the family and had even helped the children in their homework
The gruesome incident shed light on another murder that took place in 2018 and Mumbai Police suspect that Pintoo Sharma was behind it. Arvind Ranade, 58, a senior development officer at LIC, went missing on February 21, 2018, right after he went for a meeting with his junior Pintoo Sharma, who is now suspected of being a serial killer. According to Ranade's friends, Pintoo Sharma had most likely killed their friend and chopped up his body and disposed of it, just like he did with Virar victim, Ganesh Koladkar
Ranade's close friends said, that on the fateful day, his reporting manager received a WhatsApp message at 1:27 pm saying, 'Today I have three appointments at Vasai with my new agent Pintu so not coming to office (sic)'. Ranade was a bachelor and was living with his elderly mother Usha, 87, who is bed-ridden. His neighbours told mid-day that on that fateful day, Ranade left his house with Sharma around 11 am. This was the last time Ranade was seen alive
When he was nowhere to be found, Ranade's friends were worried and started questioning his neighbours and driver. The driver, Uttam, told them that after he dropped the duo at Pintoo Sharma's building, the accused told him to leave. As a suspect, the cops had grilled Pintoo Sharma but had to release him due to lack of evidence
As per recent development in the Virar murder case, the police are looking into a possible dispute over money. When Sharma invited him (Koladkar) on January 16, 2019, to a rented apartment on the sixth floor of Bachraj Paradise in Global City, Virar West, he petitioned him to clear the Rs 1 lakh loan, but Koladkar said he needed the money to get married. A jibe about his age annoyed Koladkar, who prepared to leave, and when Sharma tried to stop him, he fell and hit his head against the floor
To rid the evidence of death in his home, Sharma told the police, he hatched a spontaneous plan to dispose of the body. The police however, are unsure whether the murder was planned and Sharma had invited Koladkar with the intention of teaching him a lesson. However, Sharma, accused of chopping friend into chunks and flushing flesh down a septic tank, is remembered as a cool cucumber by neighbours, who would settle daily disputes with restraint
The sister of Virar murder victim Ganesh Koladkar, 58, believes that her brother could have been honey-trapped by his alleged killer Pintoo Sharma. She told the police that Koladkar had opened an account on a matrimonial site as he was looking for a partner. The police later discovered that Sharma had opened a fake account in the name of Vanita Agarwal and had been regularly chatting with Koladkar
