With the arrest of five persons, including three from Kalaburagi in Karnataka, police in Maharashtra's Palghar district claimed to have cracked the murder case of a man, whose body was recovered recently on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.?The highly decomposed body of the 52-year-old victim, ?Amarji Gammira Balai, was recovered on April 26 from a place located under the limits of Valiv police station in the district. During the probe, it came to light that he was murdered on April 12 as a result of some dispute, police said.

Of the five accused, Kapil Chandu Rathod, his brother Amol, and Laxman Pawar were arrested from Kalaburagi in Karnataka, while two others - Dinesh and Vishal Ade - were held from Vasai and Bhiwandi respectively, they said.?Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Mahesh Patil of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate said that a complaint was lodged on April 16 stating that Balai had gone missing from his house since April 12. The police registered a missing person's report and launched a probe.

"The police got a tip-off that Amol Rathod and his associates had killed Amarji and dumped his body along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway to destroy the evidence. A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) on April 26," he said.The police probe team later recovered the highly decomposed body of the victim packed in a suitcase and thrown by the roadside, Patil added.

During the investigation, the police found that the victim and the main accused Dinesh Khanayalal Chobisa were locked in a dispute over the past six months over the ownership of a tea stall located in front of a hotel on Kaman-Bhiwandi road.?Chobisa and his associates hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Balai. As per the plan, they called the victim out of his house on April 12, killed him and packed his body in a suitcase before dumping it. It was a case of contract killing and Rs 70,000 were involved in the deal, said Pankaj Shirsat, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tulinj.

(With PTI inputs)