Surat: A seven-month financial dispute over alleged salary deductions ended in a gruesome murder, with a 54-year-old textile worker allegedly killing his co-worker, beheading him and dumping his body in a graveyard and his head near railway tracks beneath the Alkapuri bridge in Katargam.Katargam police have cracked the case and arrested one person for the murder.The accused, identified as Sachitra Bal, a 54-year-old textile worker from Odisha, was arrested for allegedly murdering Sanjay Khosla.According to police, Bal and Khosla worked in the same textile unit and had been embroiled in a financial dispute. Khosla maintained records of the working hours of all employees. As Khosla got more salary than Bal did, the latter suspected that he was deducting money from his wages and pocketing it.Bal believed Khosla’s records had cost him Rs 160 daily for seven months, amounting to a loss of around Rs 30,000. The dispute led to repeated quarrels and strained their relationship.On Nov 1, the accused allegedly took Khosla to his residence in Rail Rahat Colony, Katargam, on some pretext. During the afternoon, he attacked the victim’s neck with a sharp-edged weapon, killing him.After the murder, Bal allegedly stuffed the body into a sack and, late at night, dumped it in CNI cemetery near his residence after breaking a section of its boundary wall.In an attempt to conceal the victim’s identity, the accused allegedly returned to the spot early on Nov 3 and severed the head from the body. He then dumped it near the railway tracks beneath the Alkapuri bridge, around 3km away.After police discovered the beheaded body, they launched an investigation and traced the accused to Bal. He reportedly confessed to the crime and disclosed where he had disposed of the head.Police subsequently recovered the head from near the railway tracks.Katargam police registered an FIR under relevant provisions of the BNS and Arms Act.Police said further investigation was underway to establish the exact circumstances of the financial dispute and the sequence of events leading to the murder.
