Three accused have been arrested for killing Shiv Sena leader Akshay Thube in the Chitalsar area here, police said.

According to Senior Police Officer Girish Gode, the three accused were identified as Karan, Gurunath Jadhav and Prashant alias Babu Jabar.

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A missing complaint was filed by the family members of Akshay Thube at Thane district’s Chitalsar police station on August 29, police said, adding a search operation to find him was initiated on the same day.

On Wednesday night, the deceased’s partially burnt body was found in a forest in Kokanipada under Chitalsar police station limits in Thane, police said.
The deceased was found stabbed in the waist, neck and face. An attempt was made to burn his body with petrol to destroy the evidence, police said on Thursday.
The police also said that a gold chain, ring and mobile phone were also taken from his body.

“We received information that a suspect in the case identified as Karan had gone to sell gold in a nearby jewelery shop,” said the police.
Police further said that the accused Karan was arrested later by setting a trap. During interrogation, he revealed that he along with his two other accomplices had committed the murder, after which the police nabbed the other two accused.

Giving information about the incident, police said that the murder was committed over some financial transactions. Akshay Thube had loaned Rs 3.50 lakh to the accused Gurunath Jadhav and was constantly harassing Jadhav for the same.

Hence, Gurunath Jadhav along with his other accomplices decided to kill Akshay Thube. They called him late at night on August 29 on the pretext of returning his money.
Gurunath along with his other accomplices then attacked Akshay Thube with a sharp weapon and killed him.

The three accused then disposed of the body in a dense forest in Kokanipada under Chitalsar police station limits and doused it with petrol to hide the deceased’s identity, said police.

To mislead the police, the deceased’s mobile was thrown into a moving vehicle due to which the location of the mobile confused the police.
Further investigation into the matter is underway, said the police.