Magazine editor found murdered in Bhiwandi

Mumbai: The body of group editor of a Mira Road-based monthly magazine titled India Unbound was found murdered in the Kharbao area of Bhiwandi taluka on Friday afternoon. Identified as Nityanand Pandey (45), the editor who also published a weekly Hindi newspaper was missing since March 15, police said.

Even as the Kashimira police were investigating the missing persons complaint, they received information from their Bhiwandi counterparts about the recovery of Pandey’s body from Kharbao village located on the Chinchoti road, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Bhiwandi Taluka police station.

“The body with visible injury marks was recovered at around 2:30pm underneath a bridge in Kharbao village. However the cause of injuries and exact sequence of events is yet to be established. Investigations are in its advanced stages and the culprits will be behind the bars soon,” said additional SP (Thane rural police) Sanjay Patil.

The body has been sent for an autopsy to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai, which will throw light on what caused his death, police said. Pandey had mysteriously disappeared from outside a hotel located on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National highway in Kashimira. The police are questioning Pandey’s colleagues who had accompanied him to the hotel in an auto-rickshaw, sources revealed.

Senior officials in the Thane rural police however claimed that they were on the right track and very close to solving the case.