MUMBAI: Gorai police have arrested a person in the murder case of a 21-year-old Bihar resident, whose dismembered body was found in plastic bags near a village in West Borivali on Monday. The accused, identified as Muhammad Sattar, was picked up from Bhayander on Wednesday.

Police claim to have solved the case with his arrest. Police officials said that the victim’s family objected to the claim that he had a relationship with an underage girl of a different religion. Around 10.30 pm on Tuesday, a couple approached the Gorai police, claiming that their son, who hails from Bihar’s Darbhanga district but works in Pune, was missing since October 31. The couple from Bihar identified the dismembered body. Their son, Raghunandan Paswan, noticed the tattoo on his arm.

Raghunandan’s father, Jitendra Paswan, said that his son was working in a hospital in Pune and allegedly helped a girl from his locality with some medicines, after which they got in touch.

“When the girl’s family came to know about their friendship, the girl’s eldest brother had threatened Raghunandan to kill her. Later, I spoke to the mukhiya (village head) who promised us that he would be safe,” Paswan said while waiting at Bhagwati hospital to collect the remains of his only son. Paswan said that after the threat, Raghunandan quit his job at the hospital and started working in a private firm. “On Diwali, Raghunandan told us “When he said he was going to Mumbai for vacation, I went to my home in Bihar. After that, he went missing. Based on the last location of his phone, we registered a missing case at Andheri police station and found out that a body matching my son’s description was found in Gorai on Tuesday.”

Officers from Gorai police station said that following the threat made to Raghunandan, police were tracking a suspect named Muhammad Sattar in Bhayander. Interrogating him, Sattar allegedly confessed to the murder, revealing that Raghunandan had called Sattar on October 31 when he reached Mumbai. Sattar called him to his flat in Bhayander and offered him alcohol.

The two drank alcohol until Raghunandan lost consciousness. Police said Sattar then took a knife from the kitchen and slashed Raghunandan’s neck. He then allegedly used a helicopter to cut the body into seven pieces, which took him all night. He then stuffed the body parts into plastic bags and on October 1 rented a car and dumped them in some bushes in Gorai village.

“We questioned the driver of the car, who told us that he was unaware of the body,” said a police officer from Gorai police station. ‘We have arrested Sattar for murder and are investigating the reason behind the murder and whether anyone else was involved.’

Sattar will be produced in the Borivali Magistrate Court on Thursday.