Sanjay Pandit is guarded when he takes our call with a gingerly, “Hello...” He is on a train to Sitamarhi district in Bihar where he hails from when we manage to connect with him. “Right now,” he says, “I have no idea [about the future]. My parents have been calling me and crying non-stop. I haven’t seen my son in days. I am going home to be with them.”

Pandit, who until two weeks ago, was a security guard at a building beside Tahnee Heights, a residential highrise in Napeansea Road, saw his life turn turtle when his son Kanhaiya, 19, was arrested for allegedly murdering his employer’s wife. Kanhaiya was recently employed as a domestic help by Tahnee resident and jeweller Mukesh Shah. The day after he joined duty, Shah’s wife Jyoti was found strangled when Shah returned home. Jewellery worth R3 lakh was missing from the apartment. As was Kanhaiya.