Exactly a year after a missing person complaint was registered in connection with the mysterious disappearance of Sandhya Singh,her son Raghuveer was on Monday placed under arrest in connection with her murder. Mumbai Police Crime Branch sources said the involvement of others in the murder could not be ruled out. Sandhya,the sister of yesteryear actresses Sulakshana and Vijeta Pandit and music composer duo Jatin-Lalit,went missing on December 13 last year. Three days later,her family registered a missing person complaint. Her partial skeleton was found near the Palm Beach Road on January 28,and in February this year,the case was transferred to the Crime Branch. According to officers,Raghuveer,whose anticipatory bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier this month,reached the Crime Branch Unit VI office in Chembur around 4 pm on Monday. He was accompanied by his father Jaiprakash Singh,his uncle and his lawyer. We will produce him in the Belapur court on Tuesday. His custodial interrogation is necessary due to the several contradictions in his statements, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy. On the day that Sandhya disappeared,Raghuveer had allegedly told relatives that she had left for another relatives place in Juhu,whereas others claimed she had left saying she was going to the bank. When his sister called him the next day,he told her that Sandhya had taken sedatives and was sleeping. Raghuveer later claimed that he lied about Sandhyas whereabouts because he did not want to alarm his relatives. During subsequent questioning,he claimed that he had been under the influence of drugs and did not remember what he had said. Raghuveer also came under suspicion as he had hosted a party at his residence the day his mother disappeared. He later claimed that the party was planned earlier and he did not want to cause undue panic without being sure that something was wrong. The police are also analysing Raghuveers Call Data Records to check if he was near Palm Beach Road during the period when Sandhyas partial skeleton is believed to have been dumped. The Crime Branch had earlier sought the courts permission to subject Raghuveer to narco analysis,to which he had refused to give consent. The fact that relations were strained between him and Sandhya,and that he applied for anticipatory bail also point the needle of suspicion towards him, said a Crime Branch officer. Lalit said this was a difficult time for the family. We can only hope that Raghuveer is not involved in Sandhyas killing. We have faith in the police, he said. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
