Man looks for new wife, son gets him killed

For three months, the investigation moved between the Lonavala police and the Mumbai Crime Branch. Robbery was not the motive—Dalal’s gold Rolex, diamond ring, gold chain and pendant had been left untouched. Police suspicions pointed increasingly to an insider—especially as the strange tale of the Dalals’ family life began to emerge.

While Navin Dalal owned plush cars and two luxury bungalows, his three sons and his estranged wife lived in a two-room apartment at Malabar Hill—without even a telephone. Ketan was the only person in the household to use a mobile phone, which was switched off from July 18 to the evening of the murder, July 22. Police traced calls made from the phone through June and July, to a number in Bangkok, which they found belonged to Shetty, a former Chhota Rajan aide who later joined Chhota Sahkeel.

In August, the Kalyan unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch caught a dacoit gang, two of whose members—Prashant Deshmukh (35) and Zafar Sheikh (28)—confessed that they had shot Navin at Shetty’s orders.

Ketan was arrested this week and is in police custody until October 19. Investigating officer Mahesh Sawant said when the police had enough on Ketan to confront him with the crime, he broke down.