Last message was to Customs agent in Kolkata known to husband: Cops

In a new twist to the Sandhya Singh murder probe,police investigations have revealed that the last message sent from her phone before it went dead was a blank message

In a new twist to the Sandhya Singh murder probe,police investigations have revealed that the last message sent from her phone before it went dead was a blank message to a customs clearing agent in Kolkata known to her husband Jaiprakash,who is a customs and central excise commissioner posted in Indore. Strangely,the Kolkata number was not saved on Sandhyas phone,say officers probing the case.

Mumbai Police Crime Branch investigators have also learnt that the last message received on Sandhyas phone was from a lawyer who had professional dealings with Jaiprakash Singh.Sandhya,the sister of composers Jatin and Lalit and yesteryear actors Sulakshana and Vijeta Pandit,went missing on December 13 last year,while she was on her way to a bank in Nerul to deposit jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh. On January 28,a British birdwatcher led the police to the remains of a skeleton he stumbled over in the marshes off Palm Beach Road. A DNA test revealed that the skeleton was of Sandhya,and a murder case is now being investigated by the Crime Branch.

On December 13,the day Sandhya is believed to have been murdered,her phone was switched off around 10 am. It was switched back on at Karave village in Navi Mumbai at 1:04 pm,and was switched off again at 1:57 pm at Ulwe village.

During the period her phone was switched back on,no calls were made from it or received. Sandhya received four messages from her cellphone service provider. The last message sent from her phone was traced to a person named Gulam Mustafa,a customs clearing agent in Kolkata. What is most surprising is that Mustafas number was not saved on Sandhyas phone,and he claims he does not even know her, said a Crime Branch officer who did not wish to be named.

The last message she received on the phone was from a lawyer named R Agarwal,and simply read Call Me. Agarwal,who has been questioned,has had dealings with Sandhyas husband and is well known to him, said the officer.

Sandhyas husband Jaiprakash said,I have known Agarwal for the past 15 years in a professional capacity. He used to represent clients to whom show-cause notices were issued by the Customs department. It seems that my wife had contacted him to arrange for a guesthouse in Delhi and to check for the cheapest air fare. She had made plans to travel to Delhi on November 19,but was forced to cancel it. On the blank message sent to Mustafa,Jaiprakash said he was not sure if the number was saved on Sandhyas phone. The phone she was using was actually used by me some three years ago. I am not sure if the contact was saved in the phone or not. I know Mustafa as a customs clearing agent in Kolkata.

Additional Commissioner of Police Crime Niket Kaushik confirmed both Agarwal and Mustafa had been questioned. Crime Branch officers investigating the case claim that they are on the verge of a breakthrough.