Accused confesses before magistrate court

I was under pressure to pay my bike’s EMI and also was in need of money and I used to see him going in and coming out of the building. SARFARAZ SHAIKH, murder accused

MUMBAI: Twenty-year-old Sarfaraz Shaikh, who was arrested earlier, confessed to killing bank executive Siddharth Sanghvi before the metropolitan magistrate at Bhoiwada on Monday. Shaikh has been remanded to police custody till September 19.

“Jo hua woh hua sir, meine hi kiya hai (Whatever has happened, has happened and I have done it),” said Shaikh when he was put on the stand.“gaadi ki EMI aur paise ka pressure tha aur mein dekhta tha unko uparneeche jaate (I was under pres- sure to pay my bike’s EMI and also was in need of money and I used to see him going in and coming out of the building).” The magistrate stopped Shaikh before he revealed any further potentially incriminating details of the murder.

Public prosecutor Suchitra Narota said the NM Joshi Marg police had arrested Shaikh under sections 302 for murder; sections 364, 365 for kidnapping; and section 397 for robbery on Monday.

The investigating officer told the court that the police wanted Shaikh in their custody to find out the motive behind the murder of Sanghvi, who was a vice president at HDFC Bank and was allegedly killed in the parking lot at the Kamala Mills compound. The officer also said that they needed to investigate if Shaikh had acted alone or if he had any accomplices. The final reason for the remand was that Sanghvi’s wallet, the items in it and his watch were still missing and needed to be recovered.

The court ordered that Shaikh be kept in police custody till September 19. Meanwhile Sanghvi’s family conducted his last rights at the Chandanwadi crematorium on Monday evening. Sanghvi is survived by his wife and four-year-old son. “The family is in shock and are devastated,” a neighbour told HT.