Six held in Shillong for killing a Nigerian man in Naigaon

A 50yearold Nigerian was found dead in a mysterious circumstance in Naigaon on May 3 Initially Waliv police registered an accidental death report ADR but after the post mortem report revealed an lsquounnaturalrsquo cause of death it was converted into a First Information Report FIRThe deceased has been identified as Michael Kitchzeba ldquoThe body was found inside the bathroom of the flat It was fully nakedrdquo said an officer attached to the Waliv police station where a kidnapping and murder case was registered on May 5A total of six people have been arrested from different states from where they were escaping to Bangladesh During preliminary investigation the cops have learnt that there was a heavy money transaction between the deceased and his killersldquoThere is an election called Community Task Force of Nigeria We have been told by the killers that the deceased had taken some heavy amount of Rs 50 lakh from the killers The killers got fumed as the deceased was not returning it We are yet to get a clear picture once when they are brought to usrdquo Kailash Barve senior inspector of Waliv police station told middayWhen Kitchezeba did not respond to the calls of his lenders they reached his place in Pragati Nagar in Nalasopara from Naigaon on May 3 He was reportedly a cloth merchant the police saidldquoAll of them are Nigerians and known to each other A few days ago there was a fight among Nigerians in the Pragati Nagar area of Nalasopara from where the six men kidnapped the deceased bundled him into a fourwheeler and drove to Naigaonrdquo added BarveWhen Kitchezeba did not return home on May 3 his friend approached the police to know his whereabouts Since his friend knew the men who kidnapped Kitchezeba a team of Waliv police reached the flat in Naigaon ldquoIt was 845 pm on May 3 We knocked on the door but we did not get any response We somehow opened the door and found Kitchezeba in the bathroom He was fully nakedrdquo said an officer attached to Waliv police stationldquoThe body was rushed to a nearby hospital for postmortem Though initially an ADR was registered but the postmortem report revealed that he was badly assaulted by some blunt objects like iron rod repeatedly due to which his lungs were damaged and he diedrdquo said the officerAfter the body was recovered the cops started to scan the CCTV footage based on the inputs given by the deceasedrsquos friendThe cause of death was unnatural so kidnapping and murder case was registered against the five known and one unknown man seen in the CCTV footage The accused who have been identified in the CCTV footage include Urges Abu Kelvin alias Naso Johnson alias Mofe Papa Sexy and one unknown manrdquo said BarveAnother officer told midday that the flat from where the body was recovered was rented by Mofe ldquoAfter the killers learnt that Kitchezeba died they disappeared from the crime scenerdquo said the officerCCTV footageThe cops retrieved the Call Data Records of all the suspects but most of them had kept their cellphones switched off but Kelvinrsquos cellphone was on for communication ldquoAfter the murder the killers immediately flew down to Bengaluru When our team reached there they caught another flight and reached Guwahatihellipour men continued tracing their locations and reached Guwahati in Assam from there they were heading to Shillongrdquo said BarveldquoWe have learnt that all the accused had planned to enter Bangladesh from Shillong but all of them have been apprehended in the nick of time After conducting all the legal paper work there the accused will be brought to Vasairdquo Barve said A few other MBVV policemen have been dispatched to Shillong to bring the arrested Nigerians to VasaiMira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police have apprised the Nigerian embassy of the development in the case When asked if their visas and passports validate their stay in India the officer said ldquoThe status of their visas and passports are awaited as it is being scrutinisedrdquo said an officer