MUMBAI, Oct 19: A tattered tailor's receipt hung a millstone around the neck of 21-year-old Javed Chougule, who murdered his best friend's mother for a paltry Rs 70,000. After killing the lady, who was entrusted to his care by his best friend Ikrar Pavaskar, Javed laid out her body in a supine position, covered it with a bedsheet and locked her in her Mumbra residence till her decaying corpse was discovered three days later.Ikrar (20) and Javed were childhood friends, having schooled together in a village in Ratnagiri. So, when Ikrar's mother Naseerabai Pavaskar's (40) shifted to Mumbra from Mira Road, where she used to reside with her son, the latter asked Javed to take care of her since she lived alone. Though Javed lived in Colaba, he visited her regularly and along with his aunt, escorted her to the hospital for regular check-ups since she was a chronic diabetic.On October 6, however, when Javed dropped in to visit Naseerabai, she asked him to help clear her room and put away some jewellery andmoney in her cupboard. Spying the chance to steal some money to start a private business, Javed first fed Naseerabai with vada pav, which induced weakness in the diabetic lady. He then gagged her and thrust a six-inch needle into her jugular. Naseerabai, however, survived. Then he dragged her into the bathroom and dunked her head in a tub of water till she drowned.Javed then straightened the room and laid Naseerabai out on the bed. He covered her with a bedsheet and locking the main door, he walked away with Rs 70,000 and some valuables, says Assistant Police Inspector with the Mumbra police station, Ankush Dhabde.Three days later, Ikrar found his mother at home, cold and dead. He immediately lodged a police complaint and named Naseerabai's neighbour, with whom the Pavaskars frequently quarrelled, as the prime suspect. ``At one point, we even suspected Ikrar since he was just vaguely naming people at random,'' Police Inspector (Crime) Kashinath Kachre told Express Newsline. Sustained interrogation,however, turned up Javed's name. The youth initially claimed he had not visited Mumbra since a month. Only, he forgot to leave a tell-tale tailor's receipt at home. When his pockets were emptied out police found the receipt dated October 6. Javed later confessed to the murder. He was arrested on October 16 and remanded to police custody.
