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Mumbai Police on Saturday said they had found the body of Vishal Campbell, 44, son of late former Maharashtra Deputy Commissioner of Police Vasant Campbell, from the Vadodara-Ahmedabad highway in Gujarat. However, they added that they are conducting further examinations to fully confirm the identity of the deceased because the body was in a semi-decomposed state.
Vishal was kidnapped along with his mother and allegedly killed by a relative over a property dispute. The police have already arrested five accused in the case, including the main accused, but two of the accused are still at large.
A team of police brings the body back to Mumbai so that an autopsy can be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death. The team is likely to arrive in Mumbai on Saturday evening.
Police said the main accused, Pranav Ramtik, 25, cousin of Vishal Campbell, masterminded a plot to kidnap the mother and son duo four months ago.
According to police sources, Ramteke was claiming that his family had suffered a lot as they were not given any share of a five-acre plot and bungalow owned by the Kambles in Kolhapur. Ramteke was looking after the plot and hoped to get a stake.
“…the property was in Rohini’s name… Hence, nearly four months ago, he (Ramteke) allegedly hatched a plan to get rid of the mother-son duo and register the property in his family name.
“Since Vishal and his mother Rohini were frequently coming to Mumbai in connection with some bungalow related lawsuits and would be staying at a hotel in Chembur, Ramtki decided to implement his plan.
On April 5, when the mother and son duo were leaving the hotel carrying some documents for their property in Kolhapur, some of the accused called them as clients and offered them an exorbitant price for their property. The accused then took the Campbells to a farmhouse in Panvel under the pretense of meeting a ‘real estate dealer’.
A source said, “At the farm, the accused tried to force Vishal to sell Kolhapur property and when he refused, they killed him and disposed of his body on the Vadodara-Ahmedabad highway.”
However, the police are not yet sure how exactly Vishal was killed. “Whether he was strangled to death or given an overdose of painkillers is still under investigation,” one of the officers said.
After killing Vishal, the accused allegedly drove Rohini to Ajmer in Rajasthan, after which, he deposited her in a bungalow in Ari Colony, Gorigaon where she was kept for a few days before she was rescued by the police on 2 May.
The accused reportedly planned to keep her alive until the formalities of transferring the property in Ramteke’s name were over. Five people, including Ramtaki, have been arrested in the case so far.
Sources said that Rametki promised huge sums of money to other defendants to help him implement the plan. Police are trying to track down Vishal’s car, which was used by the accused in the crime.
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