Cigarette lighter helps French police identify murdered Indian man
Lille: French police said Monday they had identified the body of an Indian national found in a sack by the side of a road in northern France, thanks to a cigarette lighter found in the dead man's pocket.
Police said the clue had proved distinctive enough to help lead to the detention in Belgium of another Indian national suspected of murder.
Last October a machine operator was clearing out a pit at Bourbourg when he found a sack containing a decomposed body, without any documents or cellphone to help determine the sex, nationality or circumstances of the death.
The DNA and fingerprints also failed to reveal the identity, according to a statement from investigators in Lille who led the inquiry.
But it was a cigarette lighter stamped "Kroeg Cafe" that was found in the pocket of the victim's trousers that finally led to a breakthrough, when Belgian federal police saw a picture of the evidence.
Police had been searching for 42-year-old Darshan Singh, an Indian national resident in Belgium, since last June.
The cafe on the lighter, though a common name in Belgium and the Netherlands meaning "the pub," was located near the victim's home in Ravels close to the Dutch border.
Investigators confirmed the victim's DNA from a toothbrush.
The discovery of the missing man's remains relaunched an inquiry by Belgian authorities, who in late March questioned another man of Indian nationality suspected of having killed Singh.
A source close to the case declined to give further details on the motive for the suspected murder. French authorities will hand over the file to Belgium.
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Firing outside Salman Khan's home: Lawrence Bishnoi gang member held for funding shooters
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai crime branch has arrested a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Rajasthan for allegedly providing financial help to the shooters involved in firing outside Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's house, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused has been identified as Mohammed Rafique Chowdhary (37), an official said.
He is the fifth person to be arrested in the firing case.
Two motorcycle-borne persons opened fire outside Khan's residence at the Galaxy Apartment in Mumbai's Bandra area on April 14 and fled from the spot.
The official said Chowdhary's role had come to light during the interrogation of the persons arrested in the case.
He is a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, and was in direct contact with the alleged shooters - Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, the official said.
Choudhary allegedly provided financial support to Pal and Gupta to purchase a motorcycle and rent a house, he said.
He also conducted a recce around Khan's residence more than five times, the official said.
Before the firing incident, Choudhary went to Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai and stayed with Pal and Gupta, he said.
Choudhary provided all the logistical support to the accused persons since the conspiracy of firing was hatched, the official said.
After a specific information received about Chowdhary's whereabouts, a crime branch team was sent to Rajasthan and he was apprehended from Nagaur district, he said.
The Mumbai police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the case of firing outside Khan's residence.
One of the arrested persons, Anuj Thapan, who was accused of supplying weapons to the shooters, allegedly hanged himself in a police lock-up here on May 1.
Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in the Sabarmati central prison in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, who is believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named in the firing case.
