No direct evidence against me, Santacruz bizman murder accused claims in bail plea

In his bail plea filed before the sessions court, one of the accused in the Santacruz businessman murder case, Hitesh Jain has claimed that there is no direct evidence to show that he administered the arsenic and thallium, that led to the death of textile businessman, Kamlakant Shah

MUMBAI: In his bail plea filed before the sessions court, one of the accused in the Santacruz businessman murder case, Hitesh Jain has claimed that there is no direct evidence to show that he administered the arsenic and thallium, that led to the death of textile businessman, Kamlakant Shah. The 46-year-old, along with his lover, Kavita Shah, 45, are accused of poisoning the latter’s husband, Kamalakant Shah, to death.

Mumbai, India - December 08, 2022: Kavita Shah and her lover Hitesh Jain (in pic) have been arrested for allegedly poisoning her husband Kamalkant Shah to death two-and-a-half months ago. (HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

In the plea filed on December 16 before the sessions court, Hitesh’s lawyer submitted that the entire case is based on circumstantial evidence, and relied on the grounds of parity to seek his bail. The prosecution is yet to file a reply to the bail plea.

“As far as possession of the poisonous substance, the entire chargesheet doesn’t show or establish that applicant was in possession of the alleged substance at any time. There is no evidence to show that Jain had played any role in procuring the poisonous substances,” said the plea.

Kamlakant Shah died at the Bombay hospital in Marine Lines on September 19, 2022, and the doctors found a high quantity of heavy metals - Arsenic and Helium - in his blood. During investigation, it was found that Shah was being fed consistent doses of arsenic through his meals, which led to deterioration of his health.

In the chargesheet filed by the crime branch on February 23, 2023, it was stated that Kavita had conspired with Hitesh to poison Shah’s food. The two were in a relationship for more than a decade, as per the police, and were planning to get married. Kavita’s mother-in-law, Sarladevi, had also passed away on August 13 from similar health symptoms, which had led her sister-in-law, Kavita Lalwani, to suspect foul play in her brother’s death.

Jain’s lawyer submitted that there has been no progress in the investigation, nor had they frame any charges so far. They contended that the prosecution made a glaring flaw by claiming that the death of Sarladevi and Kamlakant were similar, as Sarladevi’s death summary shows she died due to severe influenza and pneumonia, left ventricular dysfunction, and hypothyroidism, whereas Kamlakant’s death report says he died due to large quantity of Arsenic and Thallium in his blood.

In September this year, the sessions court had granted bail to Kavita Shah, while observing that there is no material on record to prove that Kavita administered the said poisonous substance to her husband. Relying on the same argument, accused Hitesh Jain’s plea observed that he did not get any chance to administer the poisonous substance to Shah.

The defence claimed that Kamlakant’s sister falsely lodged the complaint to deter Hitesh from extending any kind of help to Kavita, since the sister wanted to acquire her brother’s properties. They argued that the story was fabricated by Kamlakant’s sister to cause harm to Kavita - his legal heir and wife - and Jain was just a family friend who was lending a helping hand.

Shah and Kavita married in 2002 and have two children - a 20-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son. Hitesh was Shah’s friend and was in the garment business like him. As per the police, Kamlakant and Kavita used to have frequent fights due to her relationship with Hitesh. The crime branch had arrested Kavita and Hitesh on December 3, 2022.