3 min readMumbaiJun 30, 2026 10:24 PM IST
The knife allegedly used to murder a 22-year-old commuter inside a moving Mumbai local train last week was not recovered through a police search. Instead, it surfaced after a hotel worker recognised it from television news coverage and alerted the police.
The Borivali Government Railway Police (GRP) on Tuesday told a Borivali court that the breakthrough came after the manager of a hotel in Borivali (West) approached investigators saying one of his employees had identified the knife shown in news reports of the June 23 murder.
According to police, hotel employee Kundan Kumar said he had found the knife near the exit of Platforms 2 and 3 at Borivali railway station on the night of the murder while returning from shopping. Believing it had been discarded by someone, he handed it to his colleague Sagar Kumar, who kept it inside a cardboard box in the hotel’s staff room after informing the management. The hotel staff handed over the knife to the GRP on June 29 after watching news reports about the murder.
Police said the recovered knife matched the weapon allegedly used by accused Roshan Suverna to kill 22 year old Mayank Lohar inside a first class compartment of a Churchgate Nallasopara fast local train.
The court on Tuesday extended Suverna’s police custody till July 6 after investigators said they needed more time to establish why he had allegedly been carrying the knife for nearly seven months and whether it had been used in any previous offence. Police said he will also be booked under Sections 37(1)(a) read with 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act for allegedly carrying the weapon.
The murder took place on the night of June 23 between Andheri and Borivali stations after Lohar allegedly asked Suverna to shut the train door as rainwater was entering the coach. Police said the argument escalated and Suverna allegedly stabbed Lohar multiple times.
During interrogation, Suverna allegedly told investigators he had procured the knife nearly seven months ago from an Amazon warehouse where his friend, Tushar Sarvaiya, worked. Sarvaiya was later questioned and is said to have corroborated the accused’s statement.
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Suverna also allegedly told police he had thrown the knife while escaping through the subway towards the west side of Borivali station. Acting on his disclosure, investigators searched the route with the accused on June 25 and conducted a panchnama at the spot identified by him, but failed to recover the weapon.
The chance tip from the hotel eventually led investigators to the knife.
Police told the court they are now examining why Suverna had allegedly been carrying the weapon for months before the incident, whether it had figured in any earlier crime, besides scrutinising his antecedents and analysing his call detail records.
Suverna’s lawyer opposed the extension of custody, telling the court that “the investigation being conducted by the prosecution is flawed and procedurally defective, and is affected by procedural irregularities.”
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