While cops have registered a case of accidental death, they appear certain that guilt pushed 20-year-old Rajneesh Jogeshwar Prajapati over the edge and off the six floor of a building in Dadar yesterday morning.
His employers claim they had discovered hours earlier that the domestic help had stolen Rs 32,000 in cash from a cupboard.
Rajneesh, a resident of Satna, Madhya Pradesh, was employed with Mohan Singh Parmar, a resident of Nugget building, New Prabhadevi Road, Dadar (West). According to the police, Mohan works as an associate manager with Bharat Aluminium Company Limited and his wife Meena is a homemaker.
ADVERTISEMENT
Over the edge: Rajneesh Jogeshwar Prajapati jumped off the sixth floor of Nugget building, New Prabhadevi Road, Dadar (West). Pic/Neha Parekh
“Meena’s brothers Dilip Singh and Karan Singh had come to visit her and all of them had planned to go shopping on Sunday morning and also take a trip to Alibaug. The Parmars checked their closet for cash and found the money missing,” said Jayant Pardeshi, inspector from Dadar police station.
“Meena questioned Rajneesh, who had been working with them for the last eight years, but he did not say much. When she checked his drawers, she found some of the cash in there,” Pardeshi added.
Meena again probed Rajneesh, but the latter remained tight-lipped. Then Meena recalled that recently the help had introduced her to a person named Shivendram who works at a grocery shop in Parel and wanted another job. “Meena then left with her husband Mohan and brother Dilip for Parel where Shivendram was employed, as she suspected that Rajneesh had handed him the stolen cash for safekeeping,” the police officer said.
As soon as they left, Rajneesh started confessing to Karan that he had stolen the money and began slapping himself out of remorse. A few minutes later he took the key to the terrace, on the sixth floor, telling Karan that he had kept some of the cash there. “When Karan heard a loud thud and went out to check, he found Rajneesh’s body in a pool of blood near the building, and the watchmen gathered around it,” said Pardeshi.
Karan informed his sister Meena who rushed back to the house. They took Rajneesh to KEM hospital where doctors declared him dead. “Prima facie we have not found any injury marks of any kind of assault on the body, and the doctors have also ruled it out. He was filled with guilt and that’s why he committed suicide. But we are recording everyone’s statements, including those of the watchman,” said Pardeshi.
The Parmars stay on the first floor of the building and Rajneesh jumped off the sixth- storey terrace.
“The deceased was very close to the family and they often used to leave the house in his hands, as he had been working with them for many years,” said a police officer. u00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
