Charge sheet filed in Kirti Vyas murder case

Colleagues indicted for murder, destruction of evidence

July 31, 2018 12:31 am | Updated 12:31 am IST - Mumbai

The police on Monday filed a charge sheet against the two accused in the Kirti Vyas murder case, four months after the Grant Road resident went missing, and two months after the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested two of her colleagues for allegedly killing her.

Vyas (28), an employee of the Bblunt salon, went missing on March 16 this year. Her family first registered a complaint with the DB Marg police, and the case was transferred to the Crime Branch Unit II. On May 4, the Crime Branch arrested her colleagues Siddesh Tamhankar and Khushi Sahjwani in connection with the murder.

“We have filed a 962-page charge sheet before the Esplanade Court on Monday. It contains the DNA report of the blood found in the boot of Ms. Sahjwani's car, as well as other evidence gathered over the course of investigation,” a senior Crime Branch officer said.

Officers said the DNA report, which certifies the blood samples as belonging to a female offspring of Vyas’ parents, will be a crucial piece of evidence in the case. It is supported by statements recorded from her parents, friends and colleagues, as well as reports of call detail records of both the accused, tracking their movements from Grant Road, from where they picked up Vyas under the pretext of dropping her to work, till Mahul creek, where they are alleged to have disposed of her mortal remains.

“The motive, according to investigations so far, is the notice Kirti had issued to Mr. Tamhankar, asking him to improve his performance by March 16, failing which action would be taken against him. March 16 is also the day Kirti was murdered, and she, in her capacity as Mr. Tamhankar's superior, was empowered to sack him if his performance did not improve. Mr. Tamhankar has claimed in his interrogation that he tried to reason with Kirti but ended up killing her when he realised that she was not going to change her mind,” according to an officer who is part of the investigation team.

The charge sheet indicts Mr. Tamhankar and Ms. Sahjwani for murder and destruction of evidence. The police, however, is yet to find Vyas’ mortal remains, despite several weeks of searching.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.