Mumbai, Apr 25 (Mid-day): After dumping the driver's body, one of the killers used the driver's SIM card in his own phone; the cops traced the killer through his IMEI number and nabbed the other accused

Four men have been arrested for the murder of driver Harishchandra Yadav, whose dead body was in found in Bhiwandi on April 7.

Mysterious murder? Cell number on key chain helps trace missing driver

Yadav had gone missing on April 6, after he left the city to pick up a passenger in Vapi. Yadav’s brothers Gulab and Kishanchandra identified his body a week later, on April 14.

The four accused have been identified as Sunil Yadav (23), Abhishek Yadav (22), Raju Roy (21) and Vikas Yadav (22). Cops are now hunting for Sunil Singh, who was arrested by the DN Nagar police and Goregaon police for chain snatching cases in 2013.

The Sahar police have arrested the four men and are tracing Singh. The police officers said that on April 8, after Yadav’s brother registered a missing person’s complaint, they had been tracing Yadav’s mobile phone locations and put his number on surveillance since they hadn’t found his mobile phone on the spot. On April 23, cops found out that Yadav’s SIM card had been inserted in another phone, which was switched on for a few minutes.

Tracking IMEI

The police then tracked the IMEI number of the mobile phone in which Yadav’s SIM card was inserted and found the owner of the phone. They arrested the four accused after they confessed to killing 42-year-old Yadav and dumping his body under a bridge on the Bhiwandi-Nalasopara road near Poman village.

The four accused told the police that on April 6, they had taken a lift from Yadav at the Ghodbunder junction to go to Vapi. Yadav was on his way to Vapi to pick up a passenger. As the five men were drunk, they needed to go to the bathroom at regular intervals. After the group reached Nalasopara, Sunil Singh told Yadav to stop the car.

As the four went to relieve themselves, Singh began talking on his mobile. Irritated by the delay, Yadav shouted at Singh. A fight erupted between the two and in a fit of anger Singh clobbered Yadav’s head with a stone. A police officer from the Sahar police station said, "When the four men noticed that Yadav had died, they made him sit inside the car and drove to Ahmedabad. When they were nearing a tollbooth, they saw Yadav covered in blood and took a U-turn and reached Vasai. There, they tied his hands with his shirt and his vest before dumping his body there." The five then drove to Bhiwandi and left the car near the Manpada area in Thane district.

"The four, who do odd jobs have been arrested and we are tracing Singh," added the officer. Since the murder happened under the jurisdiction of the Waliv police, as per the instruction of the court, the investigation of the case has been transferred back to them.