The Thane Police in Maharashtra on Monday arrested two people for allegedly killing the editor of the news portal and magazine India Unbound, PTI reported. Nityanand Pandey was reported missing on March 15. A day later, his body was found with injuries to the head near a creek in Khardi village in Kharbao in Bhiwandi.
Police arrested a woman and a man identified as Satish Mishra, who ran a printing press where Pandey’s magazine was printed, in connection with the murder.
Police Inspector of Bhiwandi police station, Sanjay Hazare, said Pandey had allegedly sexually harassed the woman, who worked at the magazine, over the past two years, according to Hindustan Times. The woman had protested against the harassment, according to Hazare.
“He [Pandey] refused to give her a promotion and coaxed her to have sexual relations with him,” Hazare said, adding that the woman got in touch with Mishra and allegedly conspired with him to kill Pandey. The police inspector said Pandey also owed Mishra some money.
Thane Superintendent of Police Shivaji Rathod said the two accused took Pandey on a drive under the pretext of showing him a house in Uttan. “They spiked his protein drink, which rendered Pandey unconscious,” PTI quoted Rathod as saying. “They then strangled him and threw his body in a creek near Khardi village.”
An unidentified investigating officer said the two accused were traced using their cell phone locations. “Pandey’s phone was last traced to Kashimira and the cell phones of the two accused were also traced to the same area at that time,” the officer said, according to The Indian Express.
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