Navy sailor's murder: Find about 'Irfan', parents ask investigators

A week since the death of an Indian Navy sailor Suraj Dubey Palghar police are clueless about what exactly transpired after he reached Chennai airport on January 30 His parents meanwhile have demanded that investigators find out if a man named lsquoIrfanrsquo is involved in the incidentDuring a visit to the spot where he was set on fire midday found that the place is hardly a few metres away from a cremation ground The spot is in a hilly region adjacent to Vevji Vaijalpada ndash a tribal hamlet with nearly 400 people inDahanu Taluka Villagers told midday that a writhing Dubey clambered down a hill screaming for help around 230 pm on February 5ldquoMy uncle Sadu Ibhad heard a voice saying lsquobachao bachaorsquo There were serious burns all over the manrsquos body He asked for water We got scared and alerted the gram panchayat police and the hospitalrdquo said resident Sanjay Ibhad Dubey told the villagers the same kidnap story he told the Palghar police ldquoHe also told us that his hands were tied and face was coveredrdquo Ibhad addedDubeyrsquos statement has been determined as incorrect as he was seen roaming freely in CCTV camera footages in Chennai Ibhad added that multiple roads lead to the area ldquoThis spot is very close to Maharashtra and Gujarat border One road comes from Kankradi village in Gujarat another one is connected to the cremation ground VevjiBordi Road mainly connects to this spot which can be reached via a car After a point one needs to walk deep inside to reach the spot where he was burntrdquo Ibhad saidldquoA team from Gholwad police traced the bloodstained stones and bushes and visited the spot where he was burnt One matchbox currency notes of 500 and 10 were found thererdquo Ibhad addedmidday noticed several burnt patches in the area ldquoThere were a few small fires in the jungle when we visited the crime spot They were doused Dubey might have discarded burnt clothes which lit the dry leavesrdquo said a police officerGholwad police recorded the statements of five residents Sanjay Ibhad 30 his brother Ajay 25 their uncle Sadu Sandhu Merye 35 and Lasikant Khekhlare 40 Ibhad added that most villagers werenrsquot home on the day of the incident ldquoMost of the villagers had gone to Umran village in Gujarat to attend an elderly manrsquos last rites Otherwise someone would have heard the commotion and got to know of the crime earlierrdquo Ibhad saidlsquoIrfan is a cluersquoAfter he could not reach him Dubeyrsquos father Mithilesh filed a missing personrsquos complaint at Chainpur police station in Jharkhand on February 1The local police were monitoring both his mobile handsets and got to know when a new SIM card was inserted in one of them ldquoWe dialled the number and the person who responded said lsquoKaun kaunrsquo so we asked lsquoTum kaunrsquo and the person replied lsquoIrfanrsquo Then the call got disconnected and the cellphone was switched offrdquo said Mithilesh ldquoThat was my sonrsquos voice He sounded petrified He might have been trying to tell us that he is held captive by Irfan The police must find out who is Irfanrdquo Mithilesh saidCCTV cameras leading up to the crime spot have not yielded any clues so far It has only been determined that Dubey took loans to invest in the stock market However Mithilesh said ldquoHe had taken a home loan of Rs 8 lakh which he was repaying He was supposed to get married in May Before leaving to join work he gave me some money for wedding arrangementsrdquoDubeyrsquos cousin Vishal told midday that his last seen on his WhatsApp numbers is unavailable ldquoEither the killers deleted his WhatsApp or changed the settingsrdquo Vishal said