Murdered NCP member’s son to be quizzed

Officers from the MIDC police station who are investigating the case of the murder of NCP activist Vilas Khot are now trying to arrange for Child Welfare Committee members to quiz Khot’s eight-year-old son,who they believe might have been awake at the time of the murder. If the officials manage to get information from the boy,he might be used as a witness in the trial,said cops.

Police inspector Mohan Waghmare said,“It has been established that the boy was in the same room where the murder took place and it is possible that he might have been awakened by the sounds of struggle and seen his father being murdered by his mother Rupa and her paramour Sunil Chavan. However,he did not shout or raise an alarm,which we believe might have been because of shock. We plan to get officials from the Commission to talk to the boy and figure out if he had seen the murder. Though we have got all other evidence like the post-mortem report,the pillow cases and blankets to nail the duo who killed Khot,his testimonial might also prove to be very significant in the trial.”

Rupa and Khot’s employee Chavan have been arrested on charges of killing the NCP man by suffocating him with a pillow and then strangling him with a towel on Sunday night. The motive of the murder turned out to be Rupa’s doubts that Khot was having an extramarital affair and the constant friction between the couple due to his drinking habit.

Khot had come home on Sunday night after drinking and had an argument with Rupa before going off to sleep. Rupa then called up Chavan,who came to the house and helped Rupa kill Khot. The woman then washed the pillow case used for murdering Khot and called the police a few hours later,claiming her husband did not wake from sleep. The post-mortem report later suggested death due to internal injuries,which alerted the MIDC police.