Crime branch, ATS bury differences for techie case

— S Ahmed Ali

Mumbai: The infighting between the city crime branch and anti-terrorism squad (ATS) is well known, but for a change, the two have decided to join hands to solve the Esther Anuhya murder case. The half-burnt decomposed body of the techie (23) had been found in mangroves at Kanjurmarg off the Eastern Express Highway on January 16, ten days after she went missing from LTT.
    Asource said that a special investigating team formed under assistant commissioner of police Praful Bhosle on Friday visited the ATS headquarters in Nagpada to discuss the case.
    An official said that the city crime branch has sought ATS assitance as the latter has advanced technology facilities for call data record and other analysis. The police said that the ATS also has the expertise to enhance poor-quality CCTV footage.
    The two agencies have been at loggerheads since the ATS came into existence. But after taking charge as police chief, Rakesh Maria had said he will work towards building good rapport and better coordination with other agencies.

Robber posing as cabbie raped, murdered techie

S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 3, 2014
Mumbai: Petty thief Chandrabhan Sanap posed as a private taxi driver and offered to drop techie Esther Anuhya home for Rs 300 before dawn on January 5 at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla. Once she had walked into the trap, he sexually assaulted and killed her in the mangroves near Kanjurmarg, according to the police.
    Sanap, the 28-year-old arrested in Nashik, has claimed that he tried to rape Esther, but his accomplice, Nandkumar Sahu, said Sanap had admitted to him that he had raped and murdered the girl.
    Sahu was detained in Jharkhand and brought to the city to investigate his role in the brutal crime.
    The police have booked Sanap under IPC sections 302 and 201 for murder and destroying evidence and are awaiting forensic reports to prove rape.
    On January 5, Sanap, who had been drinking, came to the Kurla terminus with theft on his mind. He targeted Anuhya posing as a driver. Giving his cellphone number and vehicle number, he sweet-talked her into being dropped on his bike.
    At the Kanjurmarg mangroves, barely two km from where he lives, he stopped, saying his bike had run out of fuel, and attacked her.

Accused has at least 8 stealing cases in his name

Esther Family: Happy Culprits Caught, Hope They Are Punished

S Ahmed Ali TNN

    City police commissioner Rakesh Maria on Monday said both detection techniques and technical evidence played a role in arresting techie Esther Anuhya's murder suspect Chandrabhan Sanap alias Chaukya and his friend Nandkumar Sahu as both were missing from a Kanjurmarg slum since the girl’s body was found. An SIT and the crime branch were probing the case after the GRP drew a blank.
    Giving details, Maria said Sanap, son of a railway porter, had arrived at LTT at around 4am on January 5 with a clear intention to carry out a robbery/
theft. He was a habitual offender and had several bag-snatching and stealing cases against his name. As the train bringing Anuhya back from a Christmas vacation at Machlipatnam arrived, he began hunting for a target. Soon, he spotted the techie coming out of the waiting room, and made his taxi pitch.
    “To convince her, he gave her his cellphone number and brought her to the parking lot. At the parking lot, he told her he did not have his taxi, but could drop her on his motorcycle,” said Maria. Asked how she agreed to go on a bike with an unknown person before the sun had risen, Maria said they were still interrogating Sanap and details would emerge.
    Interestingly, sources said Sanap had parked his bike in front of the RPF office at the terminus. This may have inspired some confidence in Anuhya, who went with her backpack and a trolley suitcase.
    On reaching the deserted spot near a service road by the EEH, Sanap stopped the bike, saying he was out of fuel. He forced Anuhya into the scrub and tried to rape her. As she resisted, he banged her head on the ground and the stones there and then strangled her with her stole.
    “The accused collected her laptop and baggage and fled to the Sai Society slums in Kanjurmarg. There he realized he had forgotten to take her cellphone. He spoke to close friend and neighbour Sahu and returned with him to the site within half an hour. But he had to quit his cellphone search as day was breaking,” said Sadanand Date, joint commissioner of police (crime). They took petrol from the bike and tried in vain to burn the body. It is surprising that during both trips, they did not take her gold ring.
    “Nothing can compensate my losses, but I am happy the culprits have been booked. Now I wish that they are punished by law,” said Anuhya’s father S J S Prasad. He could not be in the city and was represented by his brother Arun Kumar at Maria’s press meet.
    “We studied footage from 33 CCTVs, more than one lakh call detail reports at LTT and the scene of crime, questioned around 2,500 suspects, including taxi, auto drivers and several look-alike suspects before we got hold of Chandrabhan,” Maria said.
    After Anuhya’s family members found her partly-burned body and a proper police probe started, Sahu fled to Jharkhand and Sanap to Nashik. “In a bid to evade any suspicion, he grew a beard, started putting a tika on his forehead and avoided crowded places,” said Nandkumar Gopale, an SIT member.
    But he was only partially successful. Two weeks before the crime branch got him, the GRP tracked him down with the help of the CCTV footage from the station as first reported in the TOI on February 25. Two GRP constable, A Salvi and S Konde, traced him to the slums and got Sanap’s mother to identify him. When they grilled him, Sanap gave a false phone number and managed to fob off the disinterested GRP.
    But the crime branch proved more insistent. When he lied that he was not in Mumbai at the time of the crime, it scanned call records and found his location on the night of the crime to be near LTT.
TIMES VIEW : Cops have not exactly covered themselves with glory in this case. Right from the start — when cops failed to take the missing complaint seriously — to the botched-up probe, everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. Cops need to handle complaints with a far greater degree of seriousness and compassion. And the LTT premises, one of the busiest gateways to the city, need to be made safer; this station is the worst advertisement Mumbai can have. PITFALLS IN A TRAGEDY 1
Esther left for home around
5.10am when it was still pitch-dark. Her father wanted her to wait at the station till daybreak 2
She entered and exited the
waiting room in a hurry. Knowing LTT, maybe its condition appalled her 3
Everyone who interacted with the
suspect ‘taxiwallah’ at that time said he appeared drunk. Was Esther fooled by him? 4
Did he
similarly smoothtalk her into going with him on a bike with her luggage when he didn’t have a taxi? 5
Did she pretend to call
somebody, just so that the man was aware that he couldn’t take liberties with her? AFTER POLICE APATHY, QUESTIONS REMAIN
The Accomplice
    Nandkishore Sahu (33)
is Chandrabhan’s neighbour. Claims he came with Chandrabhan soon after the crime to try and dispose of Esther’s body after the latter confided in him that he had raped and killed the techie
    Sahu claims he fled to Jharkhand after Chandrabhan threatened him. Police are probing if Sahu took part in the crime Not the First Time GRP Has Goofed Up
    Two GRP constables used CCTV pics and traced Chandrabhan to the Kanjurmarg slum
    His mother identified him and the GRP caught him in Nashik. He gave them a false phone number and after interrogation, he was released
    But 2 wks later, the crime branch nabbed him and caught his lie that he was not in Mumbai on the day of the crime through phone records
    This is the second goof-up by the GRP
    In the Preeti Rathi acid attack case in Bandra terminus, the GRP first arrested accused Ankur Panwar (23), a hotel management graduate but couldn’t get any info
    Panwar lied that he had gone to Hardwar for hotel job interview and the GRP believed him
    The crime branch went to Hardwar to cross check the facts and caught his lies, said an officer
Some More Questions
    Chandrabhan is a petty thief. Yet why did he not steal the gold ring on Esther’s finger even when he came to search for her cellphone near her body?
    Kanjurmarg seems way off any route from LTT to Andheri. Couldn’t Esther make out they were on a wrong route?
    If Esther’s talk time was running out, why didn’t she message her family members or friends for a refill while on the train?
    Initially, police said there were traces of chemical on the decomposed body. Chandrabhan said he poured petrol on her jeans to burn her body
The Victim Software engineer Esther Anuhya (23) reached Mumbai, where she worked with TCS, from her hometown in AP by train and alighted at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla around 4.55am on January 5
Around 5.10am, she is seen leaving the station with Chnadrabhan
10 days later, her partyburned, semi-decomposed body is found by her family in the mangroves off the Eastern Express Highway near Kanjurmarg
Esther used to stay in Andheri
Cops Made Family Run Around Esther’s father got in touch with his brother in Navi Mumbai when she couldn’t be contacted The brother moved the Andheri MIDC police — Esther used to stay in a hostel under its jurisdiction — but they sent him to Kurla railway police station The Kurla police pointed at Vijaywada police in Andhra Pradesh The Vijaywada police ascertained through phone records she had reached Kurla terminus, forcing the Kurla police to register the missing person complaint on January 8, three days since Esther went missing Steps taken to secure passengers at LTT
Kurla GRP outpost got 20 additional personnel to patrol LTT GRP listing names,
registration numbers of cabbies, auto drivers ferrying women
RPF started kennel with two sniffers and a tracker
Steps Proposed There are 33 CCTVs at LTT. GRP has demanded at least 100 more Pre-paid auto stand plan gathering dust for two years Traffic police and auto-taxi unions have suggested an assistance counter for women and a public announcement system
Why You Can’t Avoid LTT Some major trains servicing the east, UP and the south like Jnaneswari Superfast Express, Khushinagar Express, Godan Express, Kamayani Express, Lucknow Superfast Express, Manmad Express, Netravati Express, Matsyagandha Express, Udyan Express start and terminate at the Kurla long-distance station

Accused Chandrabhan Sanap

Accused’s mom saw blood on his clothes, told him to flee

Victim’s Dad Suspects More Involved

S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 5, 2014
Mumbai: Chandrabhan Sanap alias Chaukiya (28), the accused in the Esther Anuhya murder case, had first informed his mother about the crime, and she had advised him to flee the city, the police said on Tuesday.
    Chandrabhan had told the police that after killing Anuhya, he had gone home and his mother Jeejabai opened the door around 5.40am.
    “His shirt was soaked with blood and Jeejabai asked him what had happened. Chandrabhan told her that he had killed a girl while trying to rob her. Jeejabai, who knew her son was a habitual offender, yelled at him and told him to flee,’’ an officer said.
    Jeejabai stays with her paralytic husband and a son at Sai Society in Kanjumarg (E), while Chandrabhan resided with his family in Nashik but often visited the city to commit crimes. Chandrabhan said his intention was to rob the girl, but as she was a “soft target”, he changed his mind and attempted to rape her too.
    The police have raised doubts about his claim that he attempted to rape her, as her undergarment was found near her half-burnt body. Detailed DNA reports are awaited.
    He said he was sure that she had died after strangling her and had even checked her pulse. The police have told his aide Nandkishore Sahu to furnish documents of his motorcycle, which was used in the crime. They are likely to add charges of kidnapping and robbery in the case soon.
    Esther Anuhya’s father S J S Prasad told TOI from Machilipatnam, “At least the Mumbai police have got hold of a person suspected of killing my daughter. But more could be involved. My brother Arun Kumar was told to see the accused, and he informed us that he looks similar to the man in the CCTV footage. But we are skeptical. The cops should recover the stolen property.”
    He said the police should also carry out a DNA test of those arrested and match it with samples at the forensic laboratory taken from the spot where his daughter’s body was found. “There is some relief that the Mumbai crime branch has zeroed in on a person after 50 days of her killing. The railway police goofed up twice,” he said
    Joint commissioner of police Sadanand Date, who spoke to Prasad, said, “I updated her father about the latest developments. He is satisfied.’’ Prasad will come here in two weeks.
    There was a proposal to construct two GRP outposts at Chembur and Asangaon. LTT would have come under the Chembur outpost’s jurisdiction. — Inputs from V Narayan WHAT CAN THE AUTHORITIES DO TO MAKE LOKMANYA TILAK TERMINUS (LTT) A SAFER STATION FOR COMMUTERS?
Esther Anuhya was murdered 2 months ago and the cops have been struggling to solve the case
    Drive out anti-social elements from platforms and stations. — Dayal
    Taxi drivers must not be allowed to enter premises. They must have a fixed spot for picking up passengers. Female constables should be present at night, and rooms should be available to commuters who arrive at night and do not wish to move outside. — Ann Martin
    Make arrangements like at airports. Only people with tickets must be allowed on platforms. Entrances/exits must be manned 24 hours. The system of platform tickets should be abolished as it will get rid of touts on platforms. Only authorized porters must be allowed. Twenty-four-hour booths must be started for pre-paid taxis/autos, and licence and drivers’ details should be noted before assigning them to customers. CCTV cameras must be installed on platforms, entry/exit gates, near ticket windows, near taxi/auto booths. Have 24-hour police chowkies near booths or entry/exit gates. Start a facility for customers to give feedback/complaints to authorities. Most importantly, surprise checks must be carried out to see if officials are performing their duties. — Dinesh Helpline numbers must be displayed. — Leena Ganguly
    Start prepaid taxi/auto booth inside main hall 24x7. Enquiry counter must also be manned 24 hours. Presence of railway police in hall is necessary. —Madhavi Aparadh Install CCTV cameras. —Vithalbhai Bhavsar

‘Esther offered rapist 2L to spare her life’

S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 8, 2014
Mumbai: Murdered techie Esther Anuhya had made desperate pleas to Chandrabhan Sanap, the arrested accused, even offering him Rs 2 lakh to spare her life. “I beg you to let me go. Take whatever cash is on me, but allow me to go. I can manage Rs 1 or 2 lakh and give it to you later, but for God’s sake let me go,” these were her last words to Sanap after he sexually assaulted her in the bushes at Kanjurmarg.
    But her pleas made no impact on him, Sanap said in his confession after three days of interrogation. P 7

Esther’s clothes, specs found, sent for analysis

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: Almost two months after software engineer Esther Anuhya (23) was sexually assaulted and murdered, the police claim to have found evidence that could nail the accused, Chandrabhan Sanap (28). They claim to have recovered Anuhya’s clothes and spectacles from an eatery owned by Sanap’s sister. The articles have been sent to the forensic laboratory to retrieve DNA samples of Anuhya and Sanap, who was arrested from his Nashik home last week.
    “The police have sought the help of expert divers to recover Anuhya’s laptop which Sanap claimed to have thrown in Kadavli river near Titwala. He told police that while travelling to Nashik in train, he tried to operate the laptop. But when he saw his picture on the screen as she had installed a facial recognition software, he got scared and flung it into the river,” an officer said.
    On January 5, at 4am, a drunk Sanap came to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus with theft on his mind. He allegedly targeted Anuhya, who had arrived in the city after spending Christmas in her hometown in Andhra Pradesh, by posing as a taxi driver. Giving his cellphone number and vehicle number, he sweet-talked her into being dropped to her hostel in Andheri on his bike. But at the Kanjurmarg mangroves, barely two km from where he used to live, he attacked her. “As he used to live in Karve Nagar adjoining the highway, he knew the area well,” said an officer.
    Sanap told his interrogators that he had slapped Anuhya and she started bleeding. “He threatened her with dire consequences if she failed to agree to his demands,” the officer said. Anuhya reportedly begged him to let her go and promised to give him Rs 2 lakh if he spared her life. “I beg you to let me go. Take whatever cash is on me, but allow me to go. I can manage one or two lakhs rupees and give you later, but for God’s sake let me go,” she reportedly told Sanap after he sexually assaulted her. But Sanap strangled her and later burnt her body.
    On Friday, Anuhya’s father S Prasad met Sadanand Date, joint commissioner of police (crime). “I showed him the corroborating evidence and he was satisfied with the progress of the investigation,” said Date.
Techie had tried to catch tea vendor’s attention: Police C handrabhan Sanap told the police that Esther Anuhya had tried to raise an alarm and catch the attention of a roadside tea vendor near Sahakar Theatre. “Sanap threatened the vendor,” a police officer said. The police have traced the vendor and recorded his statement.
    Sanap told the police that through the bike’s side mirror, he saw Anuhya fidget with her cellphone as if she was texting someone. Initially, it was believed that she had no talk time left, but joint commissioner of police (crime) Sadanand Date said, “She had two SIM cards. While one card was out of talk time, there was some balance in the other, but no calls were made.” They are clueless why she failed to make an emergency call to her family members or the police. TNN

Watch, lies nail son in murder of Sandhya Singh

Chargesheet To Be Filed Next Week

C Unnikrishnan & S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 09, 2014
Mumbai: A gold-plated wristwatch, a bundle of lies and evidence showing his presence in the vicinity of the crime for a considerable amount of time may nail Raghuveer Singh for his mother Sandhya’s murder.
    Fourteen months after Sandhya’s skeletal remains were found in a marsh in Navi Mumbai, the city crime branch has concluded that her son could have murdered her. Cops are likely to file the chargesheet next week, before the stipulated 90-day period since Radhuveer’s arrest. Sandhya was the sister of yesteryear actors Vijeta and Sulakshana Pandit.
    The case had witnessed several twists and turns with cops questioning several people, including Sandhya’s husband, suspended Customs commissioner Jai Prakash and his lawyer friend. “Circumstantial evidence indicates that Raghuveer has committed the murder though he did not admit his role. We will base our case on circumstantial evidence,” a police officer said.
    On December 13, 2012, Sandhya was wearing a Rado wristwatch when she left her home with a friend to go to a Nerul bank. “The friend recalls her wearing a watch. Sandhya later visited another friend before heading home,” an official said.
    A few days later, Raghuveer called up a friend to find a buyer for the same watch. The friend spoke to his mother, who got it valued at Rs 16,000 from a goldsmith,’’ an officer said. The friend informed Raghuveer about the value and he asked his friend to sell the watch.
    The same day, Raghuveer called up his sister and asked her to check on Sandhya. “Why couldn’t he call the mother directly?” an officer asked.
    Further, on December 14, Raghuveer told the house help that his mother was dead and may have been murdered. Raghuveer had tried to throttle her in the past, the officer said. Technical evidence in the form of mobile phone location analysis showed that Raghuveer, his girlfriend and another friend were in the vicinity of the spot where Sandhya’s remains were found for a considerable period of time a few days after she went missing.
    Sources also said that Raghuveer had organized a party on December 14. “Though he claimed that the party was planned much before, we found
that it was not the case,” an official said.
    Sandhya and Raghuveer often over money issues for drugs. Police said Raghuveer had even stole her cash and assaulted her earlier for which she had filed a complaint with the Nerul police.
    Raghuveer has been denying his role during the interrogation. Jaiprakash had named their neighbour, a police inspector and the son of an IPS officer as suspects. Police said they have found no evidence to establish the claims. Raghuveer had approached the Bombay HC and Supreme Court for anticipatory bail but it was rejected after police submitted a confidential report indicating his role.
CASE FILE
Dec 13, 2012 | Sandhya Singh goes missing from Nerul. She had left home to go to a bank to deposit jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh
Jan 28, 2013 | Two UK birdwatchers find her skull and other skeletal remains in a marsh in Nerul. DNA samples prove it to be Sandhya’s remains. Investigations indicate that somebody killed her and threw her remains just opposite her NRI complex home in Nerul

    THE ACCUSED Raghuveer Singh (26) often fought with Sandhya over money for drugs

THE VICTIM Sandhya Singh, a 50-year-old Navi Mumbai resident. She was the sister of yesteryear actresses Vijeta and Sulakshna Pandit and music composer duo Jatin-Lalit. Sandhya’s husband, Jai Prakash, is a Customs and central excise commissioner in Indore. At present, he is suspended following a departmental inquiry

CHARGESHEET SUBMITTED Son strangled Sandhya, dissolved body in acid S Ahmed Ali TNN March 14, 2014 Mumbai: A year-long police investigation has concluded that Raghuveer strangled his mother Sandhya Singh at their home and used a strong acid to dissolve her body in the bathtub.     He then dumped the skeletal remains in a marsh near their flat in NRI Complex, Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, reveals the chargesheet submitted in the Vashi court on Friday.     The police tested the acid’s potency by experimenting it on a chicken. The police have relied on “circumstantial evidence” to prove Raghuveer’s culpability. Currently, Raghuveer is in judicial custody. In the 1,400-page chargesheet, the police said that on December 13, 2012, Sandhya’s friend had given her a lift to the bank. Sandhya decided to visit another friend who stayed nearby after she found the bank shut. Raghuveer probably strangled Sandhya after she returned home around 1.30pm. Cops plan to continue their investigation to ascertain whether or not Raghuveer had any accomplices. “We have not given a clean chit to all those who were quizzed. This includes Raghuveer’s father Jai Prakash and his friend,” an officer said. The evidence gathered includes Raghuveer’s cellphone location showing that he and two others were near the spot where the remains were found for a considerable time two days before the remnants were discovered. The police have recovered Sandhya’s watch that Raghuveer allegedly sold. “Sandhya was wearing the watch when her friend dropped her outside the bank. As Raguveer sold the watch, it shows Sandhya returned home,” an officer said.The police have written to the government asking them to appoint a special prosecutor.

Sandhya son had accomplice: Cops

S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 15, 2014
Mumbai: The city crime branch believes a person helped Raghuveer dispose of the body of his mother, Sandhya Singh, after he had killed her accidentally.
    The suspicion, revealed in the chargesheet submitted to the Vashi court, is the reason why the police sought special permission from the court for further investigation under CrPC 173 (8).
    The police said they were looking for Raghuveer’s girlfriend, Shreya, who is missing from her Bangalore home.
    “We want to question her as she was the only person along with Raghuveer on the fateful day of December 13, 2012, when Sandhya returned home from the bank,” a police officer said. “After that nobody saw Sandhya coming out of her residence and it was days later that her remains were found on the marshy land that is just a stone’s throw away from her home in Nerul.” Sandhya was the sister of yesteryear actresses Sulakshna and Vijeta Pandit. The city crime branch on Friday submitted a 1,400-page chargesheet containing evidence. The chargesheet also mentioned 148 witnesses. There are half-a-dozen very important witnesses. One of these is a person who was sold Sandhya’s gold-plated watch by Raghuveer.
    In the chargesheet, the police heavily relied on circumstantial evidence and discrepancies. They stated that the circumstantial evidence suggested that Sandhya was murdered inside her residence and a drain cleaner was among the things believed to have been used to dispose her body of inside a bathtub.
    They said that a day after Sandhya went missing, Raghuveer hosted a drug party at home. Witnesses told the police that Raghuveer had locked one of the bathrooms.

Sandhya Singh