Juhu killer told cops his victim was kidnapped

S Ahmed Ali TNN

November 14,2013

Mumbai: Juhu interior designer Gaurav Baruah (34) tried to mislead police that Vibhuti Sampat (29) was kidnapped and killed. Realizing that she was dead, after he strangled her last Saturday, he sent a text message from her cell phone to her relative stating that she had been kidnapped.
    Unfortunately Gaurav did not know that the relative had discontinued the service a few months back. After dumping and setting Vibhuti’s body on fire, Gaurav sent two messages to her, asking if she had reached home safely.
    The half charred body of woman was found near Customs Colony by two cops in Powai on Sunday. It transpired during investigations that a family from Ghatkopar had lodged a missing person’s complaint of their daughter Vibhuti.
    The Sampats identified the body from her gold bangle. The Powai police registered a case of murder and the crime branch started a parallel probe.
    When the police scrutinized Vibhuti’s call detail records they found she was last in touch with Gaurav. But he told the cops that they had gone to Juhu beach, after which he dropped her to the Andheri flyover, near the railway station.
    Joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy said, “He showed us the message he had sent Vibhuti on Saturday night but the next day, he did not check about her whereabouts. We suspected he was lying.’’ When the police checked Gaurav’s phone records, they found that the tower location was Powai that night. Inspector Milind Khetle said, “He initially denied it but later admitted it happened in a fit of rage. He said he had no intention of killing her.’’
    Gaurav said he had met Vibhuti in 2009. They started going out on weekends but broke off in 2011. Recently, Gaurav who had since married, sent her a message and they once again got close.
    Vibhuti, who worked with a garment firm, came to office at 7 pm and they went for a stroll at Juhu beach but returned in an hour on Saturday. When chatting, he caught her neck and proposed to her, he told the police.
    Gaurav said he strangled her when she rejected his proposal and called him an animal. Realizing that she was dead, he arranged for a carton box, dumped her body into it, went to the third floor flat, had dinner with his family and then returned to office. He carried the box to his car, took a five-litre can of a thinner along and drove to Powai. He poured the thinner on the box, set it on fire and returned home at 1 am, said inspector Vijay Kandalgaonkar.
    Prabhakar Shetty (36) was held for hacking the body of fashion designer Kanta Shetty (31) into pieces in Chembur on October 29.