In a bid to hush up the matter, the hotelier, Balasaheb Deshmukh and his accomplices allegedly tried to dispose of the body of the waiter, Deoraj, by setting it on fire near the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp.

When Deoraj's charred body was found near the CRPF camp at Talegaon Dabhade on April 26, it was suspected to be a case of suicide. However, the investigations into the case revealed that the teenaged youth was done to death by his employer and his accomplices.

Deshmukh, who owns the Pratik Restaurant on Talegaon Dabhade-Alandi Road, and his accomplice Vijay Satkar were yesterday arrested by the Talegaon Dabhade police. They were today produced before a Judicial Magistrate (First Class) and remanded to seven-day long police custody.However, their two accomplices, Raju Jadhav and Mama, are stillabsconding. The Talegaon Dabhade police have launched a hunt to track them down.

Police said Deshmukh suspected that Deoraj, who was reported missing since April 20, had stolen Rs 8,500 from his restaurant. However, instead of lodging a complaint with the police, he had launched a hunt to track down the teen aged boy.

Deshmukh and his accomplices, who spotted Deoraj in a restaurant in the nearby area, allegedly whisked him away to Pratik Restaurant on April 24. They allegedly beat up the teenaged boy with leather belts and sticks till he died in a bid to extract a confession.

Later, they took the body to an isolated place near the CRPF camp in an auto rickshaw and set it afire, according to a First Information Report (FIR) lodged with the Talegaon Dabhade police.