Ashok Rajput, the restaurateur charged with pushing 19-year-old Sonish Javed from the third floor of Metropolitan Mall on April 15, has denied his hand in the murder, saying he was busy “playing” DJ at a nightspot in the mall when the incident took place.
Talking to exclusively to the Hindustan Times, Rajput, however, said the girl desperately tried to speak to him twice at the party at “Addiction” that night, but he ignored her attempts.
The accused, however, did not say anything about what made her come straight to the party from the airport and why she wanted to speak to him.
“I was surprised to see Sonish (at the party). I asked Jirad Gurung who had brought her. Gurung said it was he who had brought her to the party,” Rajput claimed.
He said Sonish approached him twice, saying she wanted to speak to him about “something”. “I refused, saying I had no time for this. I got busy with my friends. Later, I started playing DJ on the request of my friends.”
Rajput, who runs a restaurant at Bhikaji Cama Place, is popularly known as Ashley in the music circuit. Training guns at Gurung, he said Gurung hung out with Sonish throughout the party and both of them had a drinking session.
{{/usCountry}}Rajput, who runs a restaurant at Bhikaji Cama Place, is popularly known as Ashley in the music circuit. Training guns at Gurung, he said Gurung hung out with Sonish throughout the party and both of them had a drinking session.
{{/usCountry}}Rajput claimed that around 2.30 a.m. a “bouncer” came rushing to him and informed that Sonish had jumped off the balcony of the mall.
“I don't know what went on between Sonish and Gurung at the party and what drove her to climb the boundary wall of the balcony and jump off,” said Rajput.
“After getting to know of this, I got scared, left the party and went straight to my house in Janakpuri. Gurung called me up on my mobile, asking me to come to the mall but I refused to do,” Rajput said.
Did Rajput owe Sonish, a former employee, any money? Rajput denied that there any dues were pending.
Sonish and Gurung, who worked for him at D-Minor (now Ice Berg) restaurant, had left their jobs long back. All dues were cleared at that time, Rajput claimed.
He also claimed that he did not know where Sonish's mobile, purse, organiser or other belongings were as he was not around her when the incident occurred.