Police on Thursday arrested a 28-year-old scrap collector for allegedly murdering a man who was engaged in the same work as he and burning his body over an unpaid loan of Rs 500 in Thane district, an official said.

Senior inspector Suresh Manore of the Local Crime Branch of the Thane district rural police said on October 3, the partially burnt body of one Suresh Tarasingh Jadhav (35), a resident of Gangarampada, was found lying in limits of Vadpe village.

The police initially registered a case of murder and destruction of evidence against unidentified persons and took up the probe. An FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103(1) - punishment for murder - and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), he said.

Acting on tip-offs and leads, crime branch sleuths zeroed in on the accused, Barku Maruti Padvale, a scrap collector, and arrested him.

During Padvale's interrogation, it was revealed that he along with another person, identified only as Deva (who is yet to be arrested), killed the victim, said inspector Manore.

All three worked as scrap collectors. The victim, Jadhav, had taken a loan of Rs 500 from Deva which he was not returning despite repeated reminders. On the day of the crime, Padvale and Deva took the victim to Vadpe village and again demanded the money, he said.

During heated arguments over the unpaid loan, the duo attacked Jadhav with an iron rod, killing him on the spot. To destroy evidence, they dumped the body in a dustbin and set it on fire, the inspector added.

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