Buried 'Drishyam' style: New floor tiles uncover murder; victim's wife, her paramour under lens

Palghar: New tiles laid on the floor of a house in Maharashtra's Palghar have led to the revelation of a man's murder, prompting police to launch a search for his wife and her paramour who are the prime suspects in the case, officials said.

The decomposed body, believed to be buried under the tiles about two weeks back, was exhumed on Monday.

A case was registered late night against the two suspects under sections 103 (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the body was sent for postmortem, an official from Pelhar police station said on Tuesday.

The Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, have launched a search for the woman, Chaman Devi (28), and her paramour Monu Sharma (20), who was the couple's neighbour, an official earlier said.

The victim was identified by police as Vijay Chouhan (34), resident of a housing society in the Gangnipada area of Nallasopara, a distant suburb of Mumbai.

Talking to reporters on Monday, Pelhar police station's senior inspector Jitendra Vankoti said two brothers of Chouhan wanted to meet him on July 10 as they needed money to purchase a new house.

"They called him (Chouhan), but his phone was coming switched off. Hence, they came down to his house and enquired with his wife, who told them her husband had gone out for some work. They called her on July 19 to find out if Chouhan has returned home, but her phone was coming switched off," he said.

The brothers of Chouhan came to check again and found he was not at home and his wife was also missing, said the inspector.

"When they inspected the house, they found new tiles on the floor. Suspecting something fishy, they removed the tiles only to find a foul smell emanating from the floor," he said.

On being alerted, a police team arrived in the house and exhumed the body in the presence of doctors, forensic experts and local tehsildar, according to Vankoti.

The highly decomposed body was sent for an autopsy to state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, neighbours informed Chouhan's brothers that he had not been seen from July 10 and his wife was also missing since July 19, said police.

The police suspect Chouhan's wife killed him with the help of her paramour and fled.

However, it was not yet clear as to how the duo killed the victim and why.

Police said they suspect another person from the same locality was involved in the crime.