Missing 3 hours crucial to the case

MUMBAI : Even though the murder of HDFC Bank executive Siddharth Sanghvi appears to have been solved with Sanghvi’s body being found and the prime accused confessing to his crime in court on Monday, the mystery remains as to what exactly happened on the night of September 5.

Officials are tight-lipped about the case. “Our investigation is on. The questioning of the accused is in progress,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 3, Avinash Kumar said. On condition of anonymity, however, they admit to being perplexed by certain questions that aren’t answered by 20-year-old Sarfaraz Shaikh’s confession.

The biggest riddle is what happened between Sanghvi leaving his office around 8pm to go down to the parking lot, and 11.20pm, when his car was seen on CCTV leaving the parking lot. Top police sources told HT that Sanghvi, who lived on Malabar Hill with his family, used to leave office around 7-7.15pm and reach home approximately an hour later. by 7.30pm. “He would reach home by 8.15-8.30 pm every day, depending on the traffic condition,” sources said.

On September 5, Sanghvi left office around 8pm and encountered Shaikh in the parking lot. The murder is believed to have taken place between 8pm and 8.30pm (the results of the autopsy will help ascertain the time more precisely). The police believe Shaikh knew the topography of the parking lot because he had worked in the Kamala Mills compound as a contract labourer on different projects over the past three years.

Around 8.30pm, Sanghvi’s family called him when he hadn’t reached home. The phone was disconnected at Sanghvi’s end. “When another call was made by Sanghvi’s family after about 15 minutes, the phone had been switched off,” sources said.

What happened between then and 11.20, when Sanghvi’s car was seen leaving the compound, remains a mystery. “It is not known what Shaikh was doing for over three hours after committing the murder,” sources said. Shaikh has admitted to driving off in Sanghvi’s car.

Tragically, Sanghvi’s worried family came to the parking lot around midnight. They missed Shaikh by just about 30 to 40 minutes.

When they couldn’t find his car, the family went to the NM Joshi Marg police station and filed a missing person complaint.

DCP Kumar refused to comment on the CCTV findings. Police sources said Shaikh might have waited till late in the night for the crowd and security to thin out before leaving the compound.