Khar NYE murder: Janhvi Kukreja was assaulted, killed in just 20 minutes, say witnesses

“It was all over in about 20 minutes,” according to the statements of the witnesses who were partying with deceased Janhvi Kukreja and her alleged killers, boyfriend Shree Jogdhankar and his friend Diya Padalkar, on the night of December 31, 2020 at Bhagwati Heights building at Khar

“It was all over in about 20 minutes,” according to the statements of the witnesses who were partying with deceased Janhvi Kukreja and her alleged killers, boyfriend Shree Jogdhankar and his friend Diya Padalkar, on the night of December 31, 2020 at Bhagwati Heights building at Khar. Kukreja’s friends claimed in their police statements that they had last seen Kukreja in the passage outside the house of party organiser Yash Ahuja at 1.40am. They said she was crying while talking with someone over the phone and then at around 2am, they saw Padalkar washing off blood from her lips in Ahuja’s bathroom, while Kukreja and Jogdhankar were not seen around.

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Police officers said 15 people attended the New Year’s party, including organiser Ahuja. The Khar police have recorded the statements of many of them, including Yashna Ahuja, 22, Karishma Kharwani, 22, Saideep Arora, 23, and Pratik Sadhwani, 20, Ahuja, and a few others and have annexed the statements to the charge sheet filed on Tuesday.

Yashna said that he did not know Jogdhankar and met him as he was along with Kukreja. She saw that Kukreja had plugged her phone with the projector at the party. She said that Kukreja, Jogdhankar and Padalkar were sitting in a corner and did not mingle with the rest. Her friend showed Ahuja that Kukreja and Jogdhankar were kissing, however, later Padalkar came and laid down the mattress besides them and then Jogdhankar got intimate with her, according to the statement. Yashna said Kukreja saw this and immediately unplugged her phone from the projector. Then Ahuja saw Kukreja talking on the phone and crying.

Kharwani told the police that Jogdhankar was not invited to the party and she learnt at the party that he was Kukreja’s boyfriend for three years. Arora told the police that at 1.15am when they were chatting on the terrace, Diya began vomiting, after which Kukreja and Ahuja took her to his house where she slept.

Kharwani said that when he went to Ahuja’s house to use the bathroom, she saw Padalkar sleeping on the bed as she was drunk. At 1.40am when Kharwani was leaving for home with Arora and Ahuja, they saw Kukreja crying in the passage. When Arora asked her what was wrong, Kukreja hugged him and left.

At 2am, Sadhwani said that when he went to Ahuja’s house with a friend, he saw Padalkar washing her face and blood oozing from her lips. When he asked her how she hurt herself, Padalkar said that she was not aware. Ahuja said the same thing.

The police officers also spoke to Parnika Nehrulla, 19, who was not present in the party but was constantly in touch with Kukreja over the phone throughout the party.

She told the police that Kukreja was upset seeing her friend and boyfriend engage in inappropriate behaviour. She told Nehrulla that she did not want to lose Jogdhankar and began crying after which she hung up around 1.40am and did not call her again.

Based on these five statements, the Khar police concluded that Kukreja was upset with the accused and was assaulted by the two when she confronted them and within 20 minutes, she lost her life.

Ahuja further said that when he went to drop Karishma and reached the lobby, Dhanuka, who stays on the eighth floor, pointed out towards the passage saying that someone had died there.

It was then that Ahuja saw Kukreja’s body. He frantically began calling Jogdhankar as he was closest to Kukreja, but his calls went unanswered. Later, Jogdhankar answered the phone, but seemed indifferent when Ahuja told him about Kukreja’s death, he told police.

Ahuja, his grandfather and Saideep then went to the police station and informed the police about the incident.

Param Mogal, Jogdhankar’s friend, told the police that at 2.07am, he got a call from Jogdhankar asking whether they were home. He told Mogal that he was on his way there. Mogal further said that 2.23am, Jogdhankar called him again asking to pick him up from Mahim. When Jogdhankar met Mogal, his white shirt was covered in blood and he told Mogal that he does not remember what happened. He then took Jogdhankar to Sion Hospital and got him treated.

Jogdhankar’s lawyer, advocate Mahesh Vasqani has, however, expressed doubts about the police investigation. “The police have failed to properly investigate the assault and murderous injuries suffered by my client, Shree Jogdhankar, and have also not filed all the statements of medical personnel with the charge-sheet and it seems police has been misled in investigation. All witnesses statements are contradictory, and it is clear that the police have made some mistake in filing charge-sheet against Shree,” said advocate Vaswani.

The defence lawyer added that there were 15 people in the party who were moving up and down (terrace and Yash’s second floor house) but there was not a single eyewitness to the incident. “If police found alcohol bottles on the terrace, why didn’t they test all the people in the party immediately but waited for two days. Even ganja was being supplied there,” said Vaswani.