Differing statements of kin in chargesheet

Lalit, in a supplementary statement recorded by the Crime Branch Unit VI, had presented facts that go directly against what Sandhya’s husband Jaiprakash and son Raghuveer had said in their statements. The father-son duo had said in their initial complaint to the police that Sandhya had left home on December 13, 2012 with jewellery worth Rs 2 crore, and expressed suspicion that she had been abducted and killed by someone with the intention of stealing the jewellery.

Lalit’s statement, which is a part of the Crime Branch’s chargesheet, states that the same jewellery was found to be in Sandhya’s locker in the Abhudaya Cooperative Bank in Navi Mumbai.

“My sister Vijayata and brother Mandir had also visited the bank, and the jewellery, which Jaiprakash and Raghuveer had claimed was missing, was found in the locker. Vijayata had seen most of the jewellery that Sandhya owned, as she frequently wore them when she visited us,” Lalit has said in his statement.

Vijayata has also given a similar statement to the police, which is also attached in the chargesheet. Their statements say that they (Vijayata and Mandir) identified the jewellery in the locker based on a list given to the police by Sandhya’s daughter Rajrajeshwari in May 2013.

Lalit’s statement also catches Raghuveer in an alleged lie. “After Sandhya went missing, we asked Raghuveer to go to the bank and make inquiries, and he told us that she had withdrawn Rs 80,000 from her bank account. Subsequent investigations showed that she had not visited the bank at all, after which we learned that Raghuveer lied to us,” he said.