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Thane: More than a month after a 24-year-old civil engineer was found murdered, with his body stuffed in a drum and thrown into a nullah in Vasai in Palghar district, Thane police on Friday said it had solved the case, leading to the arrest of a nurse and her brother.

The murder of Arbaz Khan was the fallout of a failed extortion bid, the Mumbra police station official added.

"The probe began after Khan, employed with a private firm in Dombivali here, went missing on April 3 while proceeding to Dadar in Mumbai to collect a work-related payment and his father lodged a complaint with police. The analysis of his call records led to nurse Mehjabin Sheikh, with whom he was in a relationship," the official said.

As per technical analysis of his mobile phone, Khan's last location was traced to Vasai, and it was found that Mehjabin was also in the same area around that time, he said.

Khan's body was found in a decomposed state at Virar Phata along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Palghar district on April 5, the official said.

"Mehjabin had loaned Khan some money and she wanted it back. With the intention of extorting money from him, the accused, comprising Mehjabin and her kin, lured him to a secluded spot in Vasai. His hands and legs were tied and he was beaten to death with PVC pipes," the official said.

The accused then stuffed Khan's body in a drum, which was dumped in a nullah there, the official added.

Mehjabin and her brother Tariq Sheikh were arrested on May 7, while her husband Hassan and an associate, identified as Mujazzam Talib Khan, are on the run, Mumbra police station senior inspector Anil Shinde informed.