A day after 30-year-old Roshan Babu Suvarna was arrested by the Borivali Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly killing 22-year-old Mayank Ramesh Lohar inside a suburban commuter station between Malad and Borivali late on Tuesday night, preliminary investigations revealed that Suvarna was said to be a habitual drinker and admitted to consuming a bottle of rum before returning home on Tuesday night.
He was a quick-tempered man and was known to quarrel with guards and motorists over trivial issues. Police also noted that the kitchen knife he used to stab Lohar several times was recently purchased.
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The accused, who was arrested in Panvel while trying to flee to his hometown, Mangaluru, was produced before a Borivali court on Thursday, where Borivali district police officers sought his custody for seven days, arguing that they needed time to recover the knife he disposed of after exiting Borivali station. However, the court ordered that the accused be placed in pretrial detention for five days.
Dropping out of HSC
Suvarna, an unmarried man, lives in a rented apartment in Meghdoot Tower, Saibaba Nagar, Mira Road, with his parents and brother. An HSC dropout, he has been working with his father as a bar code manufacturer in Andheri for the past five years.
After telling the police about his son’s drinking habit and short temper, the accused’s father, Babu Suvarna, 65, said that when his son returned home late on Tuesday night, the family did not think anything was wrong, as returning home after midnight was routine. “Later, he changed his clothes, put the worn clothes in his backpack and left home, saying he was going to his uncle’s house in Panvel and planned to go to Mangaluru from there,” a police officer said.
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GRP officers first tracked Suvarna through CCTV footage from Borivali railway station which showed him boarding an auto rickshaw from the eastern side of the station. They followed the path of the rickshaw with the help of footage of traffic lights which led them to his house on Mira Road. When they showed the footage to Babu, he recognized his son and told the police about his plans to leave for Mangaluru from Panvel. After taking his phone number from Babu, the police traced him to Panvel.
The accused’s confession
“While Suvarna confessed to his crime, he refused to cooperate with the police about where he had dropped the knife,” said Dattarai Kubirkar, senior police inspector of Borivali GRB. Since a thorough search of the house to find the murder weapon was in vain, police believe he may have disposed of it after leaving Borivali station.
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All Suvarna told police was that he got the knife from a friend who worked at an online retail aggregator. He would sell household goods returned by customers to make extra money on the side. Suvarna bought the knife for $50 from the friend and he was taking her home Tuesday night.
An eyewitness from the first class bus spoke to the police, as it was raining heavily on Tuesday night, the seated passengers from Lohar asked to close the doors but while trying to do so Suvarna objected which led to an altercation between the two. As the fight escalated, a few passengers punched Suvarna near his eye and took Lohar to the other end of the bus.
An angry Suvarna took the knife out of his bag, tore the paper wrapper and attacked Lohar, uttering abuses, a police officer said. He added that eyewitnesses said that “the other frightened passengers, when they saw the blood and the knife, were unable to do anything to save the young man. Everything happened very quickly.”
“Identification test will be conducted on passengers who saw the accused on the train,” the police officer said.
He didn’t seem aggressive: relative
Dhananjay Suvarna, a distant relative of the accused, who helped the family rent an apartment in Mira Road, said the family has been living in the neighborhood since 2022. Suvarna had approached him to rent an apartment in the suburb for three years, saying his house in Vakola was going to undergo redevelopment.
“The incident created a stir in the area,” Dhananjay said. “We have met several times to renew the lease but I have never seen any trace of aggression in it. The lease is valid until 2027. The family pays $15,000 rent and pay a security deposit $50,000.”
