Mystery of Indian Navy sailor’s killing deepens

The mystery over the brutal killing of Indian Navy sailor Suraj Singh Dubey in Palghar district near Mumbai seems to be deepening with multiple angles surfacing out including financial dealings, investments and debts.

Dubey, a 27-year-old Leading Seaman, who was attached to INS Agrani in Coimbatore, was kidnapped at the Chennai Airport, taken into an SUV and was brought to the Palghar district, where he was killed after he failed to give the ransom of Rs 10 lakh to the three abductors.

He was found in Vavji-Vajlipada jungle in Gholvad by locals from where he was shifted to a hospital at Dahanu and then to INHS Asvini, the naval command hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. However, before he passed away, he had given a dying declaration.

Also Read | Indian Navy seaman burnt alive in Palghar

Palghar district’s superintendent of police Dattatray Shinde is personally overseeing the investigation and has formed 10 teams of 100 officers and personnel to crack the case.

“The real motive behind the murder is not clear. Our team has already reached Chennai to probe. We hope to solve the case as soon as possible,” he said.

Initial investigations by the Palghar Police have revealed that the victim invested in stock markets and had piled up huge debts of over Rs 20 lakh – which include nearly 8 lakh as personal loan, borrowing of over Rs 5 lakh from a colleague and loan of Rs 9 lakh from his future in-laws.

The Palghar police, however, is still unclear of the route that the abductors took from Chennai to Dahanu in Palghar, nearly 1,500 kms.

The police are also investigating the mystery behind 13 calls he got from a particular number repeatedly before his Raipur-Hyderabad-Chennai flight on 30-31 January.

After Dube failed to resume at his station, his father Mithilesh Dube contacted the INS Agrani Commander Ashok Rai to enquire. Dube had switched off two personal phones on 31 January night.

The family thereafter lodged a complaint with Chainpur police station in Jharkhand. Despite the huge loans he had picked up, his two accounts in different branches with State Bank of India showed a measly sum of Rs 392.

Police have already contacted the cellphone operators and the companies of his share trading accounts – to gather more details.

Police teams are also analysing his bank accounts in details as well as ATM withdrawals.

BJP compares with Palghar lynching

The opposition BJP targeted the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government equating the incident with last April’s mob-lynching of sadhus.

“In Palghar, neither our soldiers nor sadhus are safe. Now a soldier has been brutally killed. We are still demanding a CBI probe but it has fallen into deaf ears of the government,” BJP MLA and spokesperson Ram Kadam said. Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s minister of state for home Shambhuraj Desai said that the Palghar police is investigating the matter.

“A detailed probe is underway and it will go to the depth and find out details,” he said.

Family demand’s action

Suraj’s father Mithilesh Dubey demanded that his son has been killed brutally after the abduction and the family needs justice.

“My son was reserved, soft-spoken,” he was quoted saying by TV channels.

"I want justice for my son. That's the message I want to get across through the help of the media. My son gave a dying declaration that he was kidnapped and imprisoned for 3 days and the accused were demanding ransom. He was then brought to Palghar and burnt to death,” he said.