Mumbai murder: Spurned man kills married friend after she rejects his sexual advances

Mumbai resident Shweta Tandel was found with her throat slit in her Colaba apartment four days ago by her husband

Four days after a 28-year-old woman was killed at her Colaba apartment, the Mumbai police arrested her brother-in-law’s friend. The man, Hitesh Kartakpandi, 23, slit the woman’s throat with a knife after she rejected his sexual advances, said police. They will charge Kartakpandi with attempt to rape.

The man worked at a fashion accessory showroom in south Mumbai. (HT)

Kartakpandi lives on the second floor of a ground-plus-two structure in Colaba, where the woman, Shweta Tandel, lived with her husband Mahendra on the first floor. Kartakpandi shared a room with Mahendra’s brother. They worked at a fashion accessory showroom in south Mumbai.

On May 10, when Mahendra and his brother left for work, Kartakpandi went to Tandel’s house for breakfast. Police said he would often eat at the couple’s house.

On finding Tandel alone, Kartakpandi made sexual advances towards her. She told him to behave himself. However, he allegedly tried to force himself upon her. Tandel tried to defend herself, said police. She pushed Kartakpandi, which agitated him. He pushed her on to the ground. Injured and bleeding, she started calling for help.

“Kartakpandi panicked when the woman raised an alarm. Fearing that he would be caught, he grabbed a kitchen knife and slit her throat,” said Manoj Kumar Sharma, deputy commissioner of police, zone I.

Kartakpandi latched the woman’s door from the outside and went back to his room. He had a bath and then went to work. The incident came to light later that day when Tandel’s husband called her and she did not pick up the phone. He asked a woman on the ground floor to check whether his wife was alright.

When he returned home for lunch at 12.30pm, he found his wife lying in a pool of blood with her throat slit. He took her to St George Hospital. However, she was declared dead before admission.

Kartakpandi, who is from Palghar, moved to south Mumbai in search of a job. Officials said he does not have any prior cases of harassment lodged against him.