Banker murdered for money, says Neral police

Police had earlier claimed that the banker was killed in a fit of rage after he made an objectionable statement about the accused wife

Four days after a banker’s chopped body was found along the railway tracks at Matheran, the Neral police took a ‘U’ turn on Saturday and said that he was murdered by the accused couple for his money.

The police had spotted Charles in the CCTV footage while purchasing the plastic bag. But their rented flat was locked. (Pic for representation)

Police had earlier claimed that the banker was killed in a fit of rage after he made an objectionable statement about the accused wife.

The victim, Sushilkumar Sarnaik, 31, a relationship manager with a private bank and a resident of Worli, went missing on December 12 after he left home telling his mother that he was going on an overnight trip with colleagues to Virar. Some of his body parts were found in two plastic bags along the railway tracks at Matheran on Wednesday and the police arrested the accused couple – Charles Nadar, 41, and Saloni Nadar, 31, on Thursday.

Initially, the Nadars had told police that Sarnaik said something objectionable about Saloni while drinking alcohol and that led to a fight between them, following which Charles attacked Sarnaik with a knife.

Anil Gherdikar, deputy superintendent of police, said, “The couple had actually told us a cooked-up story. Sarnaik and Saloni had worked in a BPO around a decade ago, but they were not in touch after that. A few weeks ago, they met online and started talking. On December 5, Sarnaik came to the Nadars’ place and left after two days.”

“The Nadars then planned the murder to procure some money from Sarnaik and his bank, and invited him to their place again on December 12. That night, they offered him alcohol and also drugged him with some sedative. When Sarnaik was semi-conscious, the Nadars unlocked his phone using his fingerprint and changed the PIN of his debit card. That night, at around 1am, they allegedly killed him with a knife and also severed his head and one of his hands,” he said.

Charles is an asthma patient and could not cut the whole body that night. On December 13, he threw the severed head and the hand and withdrew ₹80,000 from Sarnaik’s account in Badlapur. He then purchased a cutter machine for ₹2,000 and returned home.

“That day, the Nadars cut the two legs and the other hand of the body, threw those and then went to stay in a resort. On December, 14, they returned with two plastic bags and cut and dumped the rest of the body in the next two days. They then went to a friends’ place at Mira Road,” he said.

The police had spotted Charles in the CCTV footage while purchasing the plastic bag. But their rented flat was locked.

“A local auto driver informed us that the Nadars keep going to a friend’s place at Mira Road. He had dropped them there a couple of times. Our officials then reached that place in his auto and nabbed the Nadars below the friend’s building,” Gherdikar said.

“The Nadars purchased gold worth ₹26,000 using Sarnaik’s debit card. They were also planning to get a pre-approved loan (available only for bank employees) of around ₹4 lakh from Sarnaik’s bank using his phone. However, we nabbed them before they could execute it. We have recovered ₹28,000 in cash from them,” he added.

Charles and Saloni got married in 2018 and they have a daughter. Charles’ father was a physician in South Africa and he studied there till Class 12. He ran a small BPO of his own in Virar till a few years ago.

“Since he was an asthma patient, he wanted to spend some time in the good climate at Neral and that’s why they had rented a house here one-and-a-half years ago. We have not found any criminal record of them so far,” Gheridkar said.