Mumbai anchor death: Friend may have pushed her
Police sources say Amit Hazra was interested in Arpita Tiwari and may have pushed her from Malwani high-rise
Police sources said Amit Hazra, who was arrested on Monday in connection with the death of his friend Arpita Tiwari, an anchor, was interested in the emcee and may have pushed her to her death.
Twenty-five-year-old Tiwari was found dead at a Malwani high-rise on December 11, 2017. A month into the investigation, the police managed to arrest Hazra on Monday, but officials have remained mum on what transpired the morning Tiwari died. Police sources claimed that they are absolutely convinced that Hazra has pushed Tiwari to death.
Police sources said Hazra was interested in Tiwari. Investigating officials are inquiring about the same with Tiwari’s boyfriend, Pankaj Jadhav. However, they are still trying to ascertain if Hazra attempted to sexually harass Tiwari between the time she arrived at his rented apartment and the time she died.
“We are also questioning him to find out if he had apprised Tiwari of his feelings towards her,” said an officer requesting not to be named.
The Malwani police on Monday placed Hazra under arrest. Officials said they suspect his involvement in Tiwari’s ‘murder’ as they have “reasonable grounds” to arrest him. However, the police seem to be still in the dark about the sequence of events that led to Tiwari’s death.
Tiwari’s sister Shweta said, “I always maintained that there was an attempt to sexually target Tiwari and that it may be the motive behind killing my sister. With the arrest of Hazra, the case finally seems to be moving in the right direction.”
Shweta added, “The police have not shared anything with us about what happened that night. We only want the truth to come out and get justice for my sister by arresting the men involved in her murder.”
Officials however have still not given a clean chit to Tiwari’s boyfriend Jadhav. Jadhav, an animator, was questioned again on Tuesday and allowed to go in the evening. On Tuesday, the police also recorded the statement of a friend of Tiwari, who was acquainted with her on social media.
During the initial days of the probe, the police had questioned Hazra for over a week when he would be brought in for questioning and then allowed to go in the evening. However, even several hours of questioning seemed to have got the police barely enough to make any arrests, until now.
“They were drunk throughout the night but so far the questioning of the accused has not revealed anything on the topic of a verbal or physical altercation. At this stage of the probe, we believe there was no fight at the apartment,” the officer said.
The police have managed to secure Hazra’s custody till Saturday.
Tiwari’s body was found in the duct of Manavsthal Heights, a high-rise in Malwani. She had gone to Manavsthal Heights around 3 am with her boyfriend to the 15th floor apartment where Hazra stayed with his roommates. Tiwari, Hazra and Jadhav had been out drinking and then returned home for a nightcap.