Keenan-Reuben double murder in 2011: Key witness stabbed to death

In 2011, Solanki was part of a group dining with Keenan, his girlfriend Priyanka, Fernandes’ brother Benjamin and two other women at a restaurant in Amboli when a group of men passed lewd comments at the women. While the men chased away the group, they returned later and attacked Keenan and Reuben with knives, resulting in their deaths.

Solanki, who also went by the name Avinash Bali, was primarily a police informer. He reportedly helped his friend Nilesh Shukla with his import business. Shukla is the proprietor of Ravindra Impex, a firm that deals in medicine, supplements and cosmetics, and has its office in Andheri East.

The police said Solanki’s body was found inside Shukla’s office at 2.40 am on Monday. “The AC was switched on, so, the body had not decomposed much,” said Navinchandra Reddy, DCP (Zone X). The police are looking for Shukla, who has not been seen since Friday, he added.

The police believe that two men stabbed Solanki multiple times in the head, stomach and genitals. His body was taken to Cooper Hospital for a post-mortem and later handed over to his family. The police said Solanki lived alone in Andheri West and was last seen by his elder brother Dilip Solanki on Friday night. “He had taken my children and me for a drive when he got a phone call from Shukla. He left, saying that he would return soon,” said Dilip. When Solanki did not return home that night and his phone was found switched off, Dilip filed a missing person’s complaint with the police.

When contacted, Keenan’s father Valerian Santos said: “I only saw Avinash (Solanki) when he would come home for Christmas.” Shukla had lost the Assembly elections at Mungra Badshahpur in UP’s Jaunpur district in 2017 on a Shiv Sena ticket. Police said investigations so far points to Solanki’s murder being the result of a personal dispute. “Shukla is a suspect. We are also probing whether there is a love angle to this,” said an officer.