In a major breakthrough in Vaishali Kadams (32) murder case,police have traced a woman who allegedly helped architect Santosh Bhukan (34) in sending SMSes to Kadams family. Senior police inspector Prakash Gharge of Airport Police Station confirmed this,though he refused to give details of the woman as they were still conducting an inquiry. After killing Kadam,Bhukan had taken Vaishalis mobile to Mahabaleshwar and sent SMSes to her relatives,including her sister Manisha,telling them she is fine and will be back home soon. The woman allegedly helped Bhukan in sending these SMSes. The police have also recovered three mobile phones from Bhukan - one being used by Vaishali,one that was being used by Bhukan and the third one was in Vaishalis name but being used by Bhukan. Meanwhile,a magistrates court remanded Bhukan to judicial custody after his police custody expired on Saturday. Police had earlier recovered the car which he had used for the crime. However,Vaishalis clothes,mattress and bedsheet which Bhukan had thrown into the river from Theur bridge could not be recovered due to heavy rains. Bhukan was arrested in connection with the kidnap and murder of Kadam,his former employee. Investigations revealed that Vaishali was kidnapped and murdered by Bhukan. During interrogation,Bhukan had admitted to his involvement in the crime. Bhukan had taken Vaishali to his farmhouse at Malshiras to kill her after she insisted he marry her. He offered her a cold drink laced with sleeping pills in his car. When Vaishali fell unconscious,he dragged her out of the vehicle and strangled her with a rope. He buried her body in a ditch,plastered the grave with mud and put an iron grill over it. However,when Vaishali did not return home till August 14,Manisha lodged a complaint with the Airport police. During investigations,the police learnt of Vaishalis affair with Bhukan and summoned him. During interrogation,Bhukan admitted to have killed Vaishali and buried her body. Police had exhumed Vaishalis body from Bhukans farmhouse on August 27.
