In a compelling tale of crime-solving, a blood-stained shirt played a pivotal role in leading authorities to the culprits responsible for the murder of a young techie. The shirt bore a crucial clue in the form of a tailor’s tag, complete with a contact number, which sparked a chain of events that would ultimately bring the killers to justice.
Thirteen years ago, tragedy struck in Navi Mumbai’s Airoli area when Dipan Asit Banerjee, a 25-year-old software engineer from Kolkata, was found lifeless in his rented apartment on August 10, 2010. Banerjee had relocated to Navi Mumbai after securing a job with a prominent IT company in June 2010. His peaceful life took a grim turn that fateful day.
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The alarm was raised when Banerjee’s concerned sister, living in Kolkata, attempted to contact him but received no response to her repeated calls. Worried, she enlisted the help of the real estate agent who had facilitated Banerjee’s apartment rental. Even the agent’s efforts to reach Banerjee proved futile, prompting him to notify both the apartment owner and the police.
The authorities arrived at the scene to a gruesome discovery—Banerjee’s lifeless body in the bathroom, surrounded by a pool of blood. Shockingly, the circumstances surrounding his death raised suspicions. Banerjee had been in contact with his sister Somali the night before, but his phone had mysteriously gone silent.
Adding to the intrigue, they found two empty whisky bottles in Banerjee’s apartment, despite him being a teetotaler. The initial post-mortem examination failed to detect any alcohol in his system, deepening the mystery surrounding his demise.
How did the tailor’s tag help?
As the investigation unfolded, a crucial piece of evidence emerged—an ordinary shirt bearing a label with the inscription ‘Style Star Tailor’ from Karad. This led the investigating officer to reach out to the tailor in Satara district.
The tailor’s revelation shed light on a connection between the shirt’s owner and one of the accused, Suraj Gurav, aged 23. Swiftly, authorities took Gurav into custody and subsequently he confessed the crime. He also provided valuable information about his accomplices, including Vinod Vishnu Bandal (23), Santosh Raut (30). There was an 18-year-old who faced separate legal proceedings for being a juvenile.
This extraordinary turn of events demonstrated the power of meticulous investigation and the significance of even the most seemingly insignificant clues. In the end, it was a tailor’s label on a blood-stained shirt that played a pivotal role in unraveling the truth and delivering justice for Dipan Asit Banerjee’s tragic death.