Mumbai, (The Hindu): The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch along with Navy personnel on Monday started a search for the body of assistant police inspector Ashwini Bidre in Vasai creek.

The operation involving one boat and seven divers began at 12 p.m. and went on till 6 p.m., but yielded no results. The search will continue on Tuesday. The Kashi Mira police and the Thane corporation provided necessary permissions and bandobast.

“We are hopeful that we will find the body and hence we plan to continue the search on Tuesday,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Sangeeta Alphanso said.

The third accused in the Bidre murder case, Kundan Namdev Bhandari (51), personal driver of the main accused, inspector Abhay Kurundkar, was produced before Panvel court on Monday after 13 days of police custody. Mr. Bhandari, whose role was to paint Mr. Kurundkar’s flat after the murder and drive his car for dumping the body in Vasai creek, was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The confession of the fourth accused, Mahesh Manohar Falnikar (48), who was arrested on February 20, led to the creek. Mr. Falnikar, a banker from Pune, helped his childhood friend, Mr. Kurundkar, to dispose of the torso of Bidre by putting it in a metallic trunk.

Crime Branch sleuths have been visiting Mr. Kurundkar’s and his relative’s houses in Ajra and Haloli in Kolhapur to get details on the power cutter machine used for severing the body. Scrap dealers are also being questioned. “We are still looking for the weapon and trying to find out if more people are involved in the crime,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Nilesh Raut said.