Accused tried to rob Sanghavi to pay his instalments; victim had 13 stab injuries

Mumbai: A ransom call made by Sarfaraz Shaikh, accused of murdering HDFC Bank official Siddharth Sanghavi last week, using Sanghavi’s cell phone led the police to him on Sunday night.

Sanghavi, a vice president with HDFC Bank in Kamala Mills compound, Lower Parel, went missing on September 5. His family filed a missing persons complaint with the NM Joshi Marg police on September 6. On September 7, Sanghavi’s Maruti Suzuki Ignis, with bloodstains inside, was found in Koparkhairane.

Mr. Shaikh (22) had been working as a fabricator in the parking lot of the building where Sanghavi’s office is, for the last three years. The police said he was getting desperate for money, as he was falling behind on paying instalments totalling ₹30,000 for a new motorbike he had recently bought.

“According to interrogation so far, on September 5, Mr. Shaikh tried to rob Sanghavi at knifepoint as he was getting into his car after work. A scuffle ensued and Mr. Shaikh ended up stabbing Sanghavi, after which he stuffed his body in the leg space near the driver’s seat and drove to Haji Malang Road in Kalyan. He dumped the body in the nearby Nevale Pada and then went to Koparkhairane, where he stays. He abandoned the vehicle and went home, taking Sanghavi’s cell phone with him,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Abhinash Kumar said.

On Monday, a four-member team from KEM Hospital’s forensic department headed by Dr. Harish Pathak accompanied the police and the victim’s family to the spot where the body was disposed of. The accused directed the police to the location.

“The victim had 13 stab injuries on his abdomen, chest and back, and one cut-throat injury,” Dr. Pathak said, adding the body had started decomposing due to which the face was not recognisable.

The father identified Sanghavi with his identity card, buckle of his belt, and shoes. A post-mortem was carried out and the report stated ‘hemorrhagic shock’ as the cause of death.

Dr. Pathak said a sharp-edged object was used to cause the injuries damaging the internal organs like the liver, lung and the carotid artery leading to severe blood loss.

On September 8, Mr. Kumar said, to give the impression that Sanghavi was still alive and try to get some money from his family, Mr. Shaikh called Sanghavi’s father using his cell phone. He only said that Sanghavi was alive and well, and that his father should wait for his next call.

Sources said Sanghavi’s father informed the police who started tracking the cell phone’s location. It was found that after the call, the SIM card had been removed from the handset and another SIM card had been inserted. Using the location and the registration details of the SIM card, a team of the Navi Mumbai Police picked up Mr. Shaikh at his residence and handed him over to the Mumbai Police.

“Sanghavi’s cell phone was found on Mr. Shaikh’s person when he was picked up. We found the body, which was in a decomposed condition. The knife used in the murder was found in the car,” Mr. Kumar said.

About reports of Sanghavi’s colleagues paying off Mr. Shaikh to kill him out of professional rivalry, Mr. Kumar said he would only react to facts and not theories, but that no possibility had been ruled out at this point. “We are probing the matter with all possibilities in mind,” he said. Mr. Shaikh, who was arrested on Sunday night, was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Bhoiwada on Monday and remanded in police custody till September 19.

The distraught family members told the police that Sanghavi was the youngest chartered accountant in the country when he cleared the examination. He was extremely bright and thus climbed the corporate ladder quickly.