E-Paper
How a 20-yr-old man's gaming addiction led to murder: Mumbai case cracked after 6 months
It took the police nearly six months to zero in on Ankit after Rahul was allegedly drowned in the Mithi river in Kurla
Ankit Shahu, 20, and Rahul Kharvar, 26, were friends, both residents of Kurla West in Mumbai. And such was the trust between them that Rahul asked the younger man, who was apparently better with tech and gadgets, to help him withdraw some money from his Provident Fund account. That ₹30,000 is at the nub of a murder case now — police say Ankit killed Rahul after defrauding him of that money, and spending it on gaming.
It took the police nearly six months to zero in on Ankit after Rahul was drowned in the Mithi river in Kurla.
Police say Ankit is a gaming addict and pushed Rahul him into the river to evade repaying ₹30,000 siphoned off from the victim’s PF account.
How ₹30,000 fraud was executed
Rahul Kumar Yogendra Prasad Kharvar, 26, a resident of Bail Bazar in Kurla West who worked with a private firm, was reported missing on July 24, 2025, after he failed to return home.
Repeated enquiries with friends and relatives yielded no results, hence his family approached the Vinoba Bhave Nagar police. “We registered a missing person’s case and tracked his mobile phone. There were no concrete leads initially,” a police officer told HT.
A breakthrough came only last week, after Rahul Kharvar’s family pointed investigators towards Ankit Shahu, a resident of Kranti Nagar in Kurla West. Ankit's mother and Rahul worked in the same company.
Police said that when Rahul sought Ankit's help to withdraw money from his PF account, Ankit allegedly transferred ₹30,000 to his own bank account and later spent the entire amount on online gaming.
When Rahul discovered an unauthorised withdrawal, he demanded the money back. Ankit then sent him a screenshot of a UPI transaction claiming the amount had been returned. However, Rahul maintained that no such credit reflected in his bank account. That was just before the murder.
When the murder investigators now learnt about the financial dispute, Ankit Shahu was interrogated again, and he he allegedly confessed.
“On July 24, Ankit Shahu took Kharvar to the bank of the Mithi river near the airport wall, close to their residences in Bail Bazar. While Rahul Kharvar was watching aeroplanes, Ankit Shahu pushed him into the river around 8 pm,” the plice officer said.
Police have registered a case under sections 103 (murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 316 (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with section 66 of the Information Technology Act.
“We have strong technical evidence, including financial transaction records, call detail records and tower location data placing both men at the spot at the time of the incident. Efforts are on to trace the body in the Mithi river,” the officer added.
(Inputs from Vinay Dalvi)
