Andheri killings: Model claims to be married to accused

After insisting that Vijay Palande, accused of killing senior citizen Arunkumar Tikku and aspiring Bollywood producer Karankumar Kakkar, is her brother, model Simran Sood on Wednesday told crime branch sleuths that he is her husband whom she married in 1998, incidentally the year he murdered a father-son duo in a bid to grab their property.

After insisting that Vijay Palande, accused of killing senior citizen Arunkumar Tikku and aspiring Bollywood producer Karankumar Kakkar, is her brother, model Simran Sood on Wednesday told crime branch sleuths that he is her husband whom she married in 1998, incidentally the year he murdered a father-son duo in a bid to grab their property.

A senior crime branch official said the two met as Palande was then working at Copper Chimney, a restaurant in Juhu, which used to provide catering services to a nearby gymnasium frequented by Sood. “We are still verifying the information, and are checking if the marriage was registered,” the official said.

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Sood has earlier told the police that Palande was her brother and she was not aware of his criminal background. Palande had also told cops he was married to a German woman after he was arrested in connection with Tikku’s murder on April 9.

“The two [Palande and Sood] have just been transferred to the crime branch’s custody. We will soon confront them to verify the information,” the official said, adding that they are going to verify Sood’s role in the two murders.

In the Kakkar case, the crime branch is probing two angles for his murder — that he was getting close to Sood, or may have owed money to Palande.