Killer escaped in sari to mislead cops

Updated On: 22 October, 2011 06:39 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi

After slaying 55-year-old woman and her 3-year-old granddaughter, murderer kept cops thinking that 'a woman' who last visited them was the culprit

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After slaying 55-year-old woman and her 3-year-old granddaughter, murderer kept cops thinking that 'a woman' who last visited them was the culprit

Almost five months after the double murder of a woman and her granddaughter in Sion Koliwada, Unit II of Mumbai Crime Branch have finally solved the case with the arrest of a 21-year-old who they did not suspect earlier because he is a homosexual, cops said.

Imaging/ Jishu Dev Malakar

The murder of Ranjana Nagalkar (55) and Vaishnavi Raikar (3) took place in June but cops were taken in by the disarming ways of the accused, Vishal Rajendra Shrivastava.

"As he was homosexual, nobody suspected him of committing such a serious crime," said PSI Bhaskar Kadam.
Further, cops had come to know that the last person to visit Ranjana in her house in Indranagar Cooperative Society was a woman, and suspected her. But in fact, the woman was Vishal clad in a sari.

The incident
On June 3, Ranjana's daughter Sheetal called the Antop Hill police, saying she found the bodies of her mother and daughter in a pool of blood. Jewellery worth Rs 3.6 lakh and Rs 4,000 in cash were reported missing. After the death of Ranjana's husband and son, she had been staying with Sheetal, her husband Santosh, and their daughter Vaishnavi.

"The murders were very gruesome. Somebody had slit the throats of both the victims in the afternoon. The three-year-old was also killed brutally. The floor was carpeted with blood," said Jt CP (Crime) Himanshu Roy.

Shooting in dark
The police had immediately formed three teams to probe the case. Fingerprints of around 250 residents of the building were taken; most residents were called to the police station. Police even interrogated Santosh, but came up with nothing.