The Chilling Matheran Murder Mystery

Nestled in the hills near Mumbai, Matheran is known for its scenic beauty and peaceful surroundings. Every weekend, tourists flock to this quiet hill station to escape the chaos of city life. But on one cold December morning in 2021, the peace was shattered by a gruesome discovery that would haunt the local police for weeks to come.

It was early morning on December 12 when a housekeeping staff member at Sai Sadan Lodge in Matheran began cleaning a room that had just been vacated. What he found under the bed left him frozen with horror — the naked, headless body of a young woman.

There wasn’t a single piece of clothing on the body. The killer had not only decapitated the victim but had also used a sharp object to mutilate a tattoo on her arm — a deliberate attempt to hide her identity. The room was in complete disarray, with signs of a violent struggle, confirming that the murder had taken place right there.

For the Matheran police, this was not just another murder — it was the most brutal and baffling case they had encountered. Who was the girl? Who was she with? Why was she killed so mercilessly?

The first step in the investigation was to speak with the lodge staff. Police checked the register and found that the couple who had booked the room had checked in under the names Hamza Khan and Rubina Begum, listing a Mumbai address and identifying themselves as husband and wife. They had booked the room for two days — Saturday and Sunday.

However, when the police visited the given address in Mumbai, they hit a dead end. No such people lived there, and no one in the neighborhood had ever heard of anyone by those names. It became clear: the names, the address — everything was fake. To make matters worse, the couple had not submitted any ID proof at the lodge, a serious lapse on the part of the hotel management.

With no way to identify the girl — no clothes, no ID, no head, and even the tattoo disfigured — the police were left with only one option: technology.

They started examining CCTV footage from in and around the lodge. In one clip, they spotted a woman wearing a mask — believed to be the victim. Another critical piece of footage showed a man leaving the lodge in a hurry on the morning of December 13, carrying a large bag on his back.

Was this the killer?

The police began tracing the man’s movements through nearby surveillance cameras. Eventually, they found footage of him walking toward a deserted forest path. It seemed suspicious, so the police decided to search that area thoroughly.

After combing through the terrain, they stumbled upon something shocking near a railway track, 250 feet down a deep gorge — a polythene bag stained with blood. Inside the bag was the severed head of the young woman.

Nearby, they also found a purse containing a medical prescription from a doctor in Goregaon. This clue helped narrow the search. The woman, it seemed, was likely from Goregaon.

Through this and other fragments of information — including digital surveillance and money transactions — the police finally identified the couple.

Their real names were Ram Silochan Pal and Poonam Pal.

Ram was a 30-year-old software engineer working at an IT firm near Belapur. Poonam, 26, worked as a nurse in a hospital in Goregaon. The two had gotten married just seven months earlier, in May 2021. Like many newlyweds, they had promised to stay together forever — but what happened next would shock everyone.

Despite their marriage, the couple lived separately because Poonam’s gauna — a traditional ceremony that marks the bride’s departure to her husband’s home — had not yet taken place. Ram lived in Panvel, while Poonam stayed with her parents in Goregaon. They would occasionally meet during holidays.

But on that fateful weekend, Ram brought Poonam to Matheran under the pretense of a romantic getaway. Instead, he had something far more sinister in mind.

According to the police, Ram had meticulously planned the murder. He checked into the lodge under a false name and address. He didn’t provide ID proof. He brought along a knife and polythene bags. He made sure to keep his phone switched off during critical hours to avoid location tracking. After committing the murder sometime during the night of December 12, he took Poonam’s head, placed it in a bag, and disposed of it deep in the forested gorge.

Ram even tried to destroy all evidence. He removed her clothes, damaged her tattoo, and scattered her belongings in different locations. It was a nearly perfect crime — but not quite.

Despite his clever planning, 20% of the evidence remained, and it was enough for the police to track him down. A team raided his home in Panvel and arrested him. Ram was reportedly shocked — he believed he had committed the perfect murder.

During interrogation, Ram finally confessed to the crime and revealed the reason behind it — a reason so petty and disturbing that it left the investigators stunned.

According to Ram, everything changed because of one conversation.

During one of their meetings, he had asked Poonam a question about her past — and her answer enraged him. Ram described his wife as “too open-minded” for his liking. Though the exact nature of the conversation remains undisclosed, police sources said it made Ram suspicious, insecure, and ultimately vengeful.

In reality, both Ram and Poonam came from traditional families in Uttar Pradesh, and their marriage was arranged by their parents. But Ram, it seemed, was unable to deal with his wife’s modern outlook and independent nature.

Rather than communicate or seek help, he decided to murder her — in the most gruesome way imaginable.

This case remains one of the most chilling examples of how deep-rooted insecurities and toxic possessiveness can turn love into a weapon. A young life was lost, not in a fit of rage, but through cold-blooded planning — and for a reason as small as a difference in mindset.

As the trial proceeds and justice takes its course, one question still haunts everyone:

How could someone kill the very person they once promised to love for seven lifetimes?