Thane (Maharashtra), June 6 (IANS): The Thane police on Saturday solved a sensational double murder case of a hotelier and his assistant in Mira Road town nabbing the accused holed up in Pune within 12 hours, a top official said here.

The accused, Kallu Yadav turned out to be a serial offender, who had been jailed earlier for two more murders in Kolkata. Yadav has said that the victims tortured and starved him during the lockdown which led him to take the step.

On Friday, two bodies were recovered from a water tank of a wellknown local eatery, Shabari Bar & Restaurant.

A Mira Road police team that recovered the bodies got the identification that it was hotel manager Harish Shetty and his assistant Naresh Pandit, while a third person Kallu Yadav was missing.

Since all other staffers had fled to their native villages after lockdown, the three were staying in the hotel premises, said Superintendent of Police (Thane Rural) Dr. Shivaji Rathod.

Since Yadav's whereabouts were unknown, police tracked his mobile phone to learn that he was hiding in Pune and dispatched a team to pick him up.

Hailing from Kanchanpur-Pipri, Dohrighat, Mahu district of Uttar Pradesh, Yadav, 35, was nabbed from Sajan Bar near Nilayam Bridge in Pune, he added.

He was arrested and brought to Thane, but during interrogation he made another shocking revelation that he was jailed for killing two security guards in Kolkata a few years ago.

"Besides the previous two murders in Kolkata and now the double-murder in Mira Road, the accused had cases of assault and other charges lodged by Pune Police also," Rathod said.

During questioning, Yadav claimed that the victims -- Shetty and Pandit used to torture, assault and starve him during lockdown while they used to feast and drink in the hotel premises.

Nursing a grudge, he attacked and killed them on May 31, dumped their bodies in the hotel water tank, grabbed their mobiles and fled to Pune, said Rathod.

The entire fast-paced investigation was directed by Rathod in which police officials Sanjaykumar Patil, Shantaram Walvi, Vyankat Andhale, Sandeep Kadam, and their respective teams managed to solve the crime within 12 hours.