Mumbai: Woman’s corpse wrapped in cloth found inside bed; husband missing

A man allegedly killed his wife and absconded hiding her body inside a boxed bed at their residence in Motilal Nagar Goregaon WestThe deceased has been identified as Ragini Sonu Sawardekar 63 a resident of Chawl No 279 Room No 2211 opposite Vibgyor School Motilal Nagar Goregaon WestAccording to police sources neighbours alerted authorities after a foul smell began emanating from the house on Wednesday Despite an initial search the body was not immediately found However upon opening and inspecting a boxed iron bed police discovered the womanrsquos body wrapped in cloth After conducting a panchnama the body was sent to Siddharth Hospital for postmortemAccording to police sources Ragini lived with her mother before her marriage She worked as a house help and after her motherrsquos death used her savings to construct additional rooms and shops on the same property which she later rented out She survived on the rental incomeDuring this time she met Pratap Paramchand Baskoti 65 who claimed to work in the film industry He was a friend of one of her tenants and would frequently visit her house Their acquaintance turned into a relationship and the two married around 2011ndash2012 Since then Baskoti had been living with her in the same houseHer nephew Nitin Ambekar told midday ldquoSince childhood we frequently visited Ragini auntyrsquos house which is why her neighbours knew us well They also had our mobile numbers so they could contact us if there was any problem or emergency Thatrsquos how we were always kept in the looprdquoHe added ldquoAll of us in the family were upset about Ragini auntys marriage to Baskoti For several months no one spoke to her about it but eventually we accepted that it was her decision and resumed communicationrdquoAccording to the family a neighbour called them on Sunday and informed them that Raginirsquos husband had left the house that morning saying they were both going to townldquoLater we received another call saying the neighbours had alerted the police due to a foul smell The police arrived searched the house and eventually discovered Ragini auntyrsquos body wrapped in cloth and hidden inside an iron bedrdquo Nitin saidBaskoti is currently absconding and his mobile phone remains switched offThe family claims they donrsquot know much about Baskoti and Ragini herself never shared many details He was reportedly already married and originally from Uttar Pradesh Based on what Ragini had told them she had once travelled to his native village and got down at Raebareli stationNitin said that three months ago there was a theft at Raginirsquos house All of Raginirsquos and her late motherrsquos jewellery was stolen She had lodged a complaint with the Goregaon police During the investigation police found no signs of forced entrymdashno broken locks or doorsmdashsuggesting the theft was likely an inside job The family believes that when Ragini later realised Baskoti might have been behind the theft a conflict could have broken out between themNitin also revealed ldquoBaskoti never worked He just sat at home he bought a car and used to drive in Ola Uber for a couple of months eventually selling the car and sitting at home not contributing anythingrdquoThe Goregaon Police under the guidance of DCP Anand Bhoite Zone 11 and Senior Police Inspector Madhusudan Naik have launched a manhunt for the accusedatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params