Murder in Malabar Hill: 20-year-old servant killed his employer after she caught him stealing

The police said the accused revealed that he had gone to the victim’s bedroom to steal from their cupboard and the woman woke up and started shouting for help. He said he then caught hold of her neck to stop her from raising an alarm but ended up strangling her

MUMBAI: The 20-year-old servant, arrested for killing a 67-year-old resident of Tahnee Heights in Nepean Sea Road, Malabar Hill on Tuesday, confessed during the interrogation that he killed his employer Jyoti Shah after she caught him stealing jewellery from her bedroom locker and tried to raise an alarm.

Murder in Malabar Hill: 20-year-old servant killed his employer after she caught him stealing

A Malabar Hill police official confirmed that the accused Kanhaiya Kumar Sanjay Pandit, who was nabbed at Bhusawal station in Jalgaon district on Wednesday, while trying to flee to his native place in Bihar, has confessed to the crime. The police said the accused revealed that he had gone to the victim’s bedroom to steal from their cupboard and the woman woke up and started shouting for help. He said he then caught hold of her neck to stop her from raising an alarm but ended up strangling her.

“The Malabar Hill police on Wednesday afternoon apprehended the accused, identified as Kanhaiya Kumar Sanjay Pandit, from a train when he was on his way to Sitamarhi in Bihar. He was hiding in the toilet of an express train when the Government Railway Police (GRP) team picked him up on a tip-off from the Malabar Hill police,” said a police officer from Malabar Hill police station.

According to the police, Pandit was brought to Mumbai and produced before the metropolitan magistrate court at Girgaum which remanded him in police custody till March 19. “We are yet to recover the two diamond-studded gold bangles that he had stolen before fleeing from his employer’s home,” said DCP Sanjay Latkar, who is presently holding the charge of DCP Zone II. The police said after 2.30pm, when the woman went to take her afternoon siesta after finishing her kitchen work, the accused was seen entering her bedroom. “He told us that he had entered her bedroom with an aim to commit a theft, however, she woke up resulting in an altercation between them which led Kanhaiya to strangle Jyoti,” said the police officer. After committing the crime, Kanhaiya was scared and fled the spot taking the two bangles worn by the victim.

“The entire episode occurred within fifteen minutes on Tuesday. CCTV footage from the house revealed that after committing the crime, the accused entered the servant’s quarter, changed his clothes, picked up his bag and fled. As the lift took time to come, he dropped his bag near the elevator entrance and took the stairs. The bag had all his important documents. He then met his father and boarded a train to Sitamarhi in Bihar. However, he made a call to his father who was being questioned by us from a co-passenger’s phone which helped us track him and eventually nab him at Bhusaval station,” said the police officer.