Santacruz bizman’s killer may not have acted alone: Police

MUMBAI: The Santacuz police, investigating the murder of 43-year-old businessman Tilakraj Rajput on Sunday night, said his lover Purity Coutinho, 26, earlier identified

MUMBAI: The Santacuz police, investigating the murder of 43-year-old businessman Tilakraj Rajput on Sunday night, said his lover Purity Coutinho, 26, earlier identified by her alias Ronita, has confessed to strangling Rajput with her dupatta. However, the police are sceptical about whether she could have killed him on her own and are looking into whether she had accomplices. They are checking her call records for clues. Deputy commissioner of police Ashok Dudhe said, “We are investigating the possibility that more people were involved in the murder.”

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The police have also found that Rajput and Coutinho were seated in the second-row seat of his SUV when she allegedly strangled him with her dupatta. On Tuesday, the police interrogated Coutinho’s husband, who told them he had been unaware of his wife’s affair with Rajput. The police are also scouring financial transactions between Rajput and Coutinho for leads.

They are checking her call records for clues. Deputy commissioner of police Ashok Dudhe said, “We are investigating the possibility that more people were involved in the murder.”

The police have so far recorded the statements of at least six people, including relatives and friends of Rajput. The relatives said they hadn’t heard of Coutinho and didn’t know Rajput had been having an affair.

Rajput had met some friends for drinks in Bandra on Sunday afternoon. Between 4pm and 4.30pm, he telephoned Countinho a few times and the two got into an argument, during which he allegedly abused her. His friends overheard the fight, the police said.

After finishing his drinks, Rajput left for Vile Parle in his SUV to meet Countinho. He picked her up from her house and drove to a spot near the LIC office at SV Road, Santacruz, where he parked in a lane with many other cars to avoid attention. There are no CCTVs in that area, the police said.

After Rajput parked the SUV, he and Countinho shifted to the second-row seat, where they got into an argument, the police said.