Karan Joseph case: Estonian, ‘key witness’ in case, records statement before magistrate

An officer linked to the probe said: “The Estonian national, who is a friend of Rishi Shah and was present in the house, is an important witness in the case. Hence, we got her statement recorded before a judicial magistrate since it then has value as evidence.” The police said they have also got some clarity on several questions raised by Joseph’s family. “They wanted to know who was the first person who saw the body, which we found was the employee at a house in the building. They also wanted us to check if Joseph’s cellphone had been planted later beside his body. We, however, found a photo taken soon after his body was found in which the phone is next to his body,” an officer linked to the probe said.

“The unit has been working on the case since the past month and we want to ensure that all aspects and allegations are looked into. The two basic questions before us are to find if it is a case of suicide or homicide and if it is a case of suicide, then if anyone was responsible for it. The team has gathered a lot of evidence in the matter. We are now awaiting the final forensic reports of the cellphones of Joseph, Shah and some of their friends to see if any messages were deleted. We are hoping to wrap this up within a month,” the officer added.

Karan Joseph, a pianist, committed suicide on September 9 by jumping from the 12th floor of Concorde apartment in Bandra (West), where he had been residing for the past month. Joseph was staying at the rented apartment of Rishi Shah, the CEO of Crossbones media, who later faced allegations of having driven Joseph to commit suicide by harassing him. After several allegations were made against Shah, the Bandra police registered an FIR on charges of abetment to suicide against unknown persons and began probe. Later, after Joseph’s family members met the Mumbai police commissioner, the matter was handed over to the crime branch.