A brain mapping test was conducted today on gangster Vijay Palande and his accomplice, facing trial for murdering an actor's father Arun Tikku and an aspiring film producer Karan Kakkad, to find out more about another murdered person, whose skull was recovered while probing the previous murders, police said.

On April 16, crime branch officials recovered a skull at Kumbharli Ghats near Chiplun in Ratnagiri district, where Palande had allegedly dumped Kakkad's remains.

While DNA tests confirmed that the torso found at the place was Kakkad's, the skull did not match his DNA.

Later, the police received permission from the court to conduct a narco and brain mapping test on Palande and his associate Dhananjay Shinde to identify the person whose skull was recovered.

A lie detector test was conducted yesterday, while a brain mapping test was was done today, police said.

Cops suspect the duo are involved in a third murder, after they found bloodstains at Kakkad's Andheri residence. Experts had also retrieved DNA of two people from bloodstains in Kakkad's bathroom. One was Kakkad's, and the other matched the skull, raising suspicions that the accused had killed another person in Kakkad's house and dumped his body at the ghat.

A total of five cases have been filed against Palande. The first case pertains to murder of actor Anuj Tikku's father Arun Tikku, the second one is for obtaining a passport using fake documents, the third case is for Kakkad's murder, the fourth one is for escaping from custody and the fifth is for murdering an unknown person whose skull was found in Kumbharli Ghats.

Palande was arrested on April 10 for his alleged role in the Tikku murder case. Subsequently he was held in other cases.