Karan Joseph death: Investigation transferred to crime branch

Karan Joseph

Two days after parents of pianist Karan Joseph, who committed suicide on September 9, met Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar in connection with the investigations, the case has been transferred to the Mumbai crime branch. The abetment to suicide case, earlier being investigated by the Bandra police, will now be probed by unit 5 of the crime branch.

A senior officer said, “The commissioner transferred the case to the Mumbai crime branch. Crime branch unit 5 has been given the task of investigating the matter.” Parents of Joseph had met Padsalgikar on Monday. Sources said that the family gave an eight-page statement to the police commissioner. “The family had some doubts about the series of events and that was conveyed in the letter.”

The family, in a statement released earlier, had said, “It is important to note that Karan was clearly being enticed and coerced by Rishi Shah to sign a music contract disassociating him from the rest of the music industry. This was the subject matter of intense discussion across the Mumbai music world and would have some bearing on people’s actions in the run-up to whatever may have happened on that fateful night leading to his death.”

Shah had, however, defended himself saying that he was helping Joseph build a successful career. An officer from the crime branch said, “We will get the details of investigation carried out by the Bandra police so far, following which we will carry out an independent investigation into the matter.”