Kirti Vyas’ two colleagues Siddhesh Tamhankar and Khushi Sahjwani had come to fetch her from her house. Siddhesh, one of the two accused in the murder has accepted during interrogation that he strangled her with a handkerchief during an argument. Kirti had professional differences with Siddhesh but she thought that would be just confined to the workstation; she never imagined one day she would be killed by them. That is the reason when the duo reached to receive her from home, she went with them without any hint of what is written in her fate. Vyas and Tamhankar were travelling in co-accused Khushi Sahjwani’s car. All were employees of Bblunt salon in Andheri.
The duo waited for Ms. Vyas near her residence at Grant Road. When they saw her exiting the building, Mrs. Sahjwani, who was driving, drew up alongside and offered to drop her near Grant Road railway station. Kirti was surprised to see them but was convinced by the duo to take a ride. While on the drive they told Kirti that they wanted to talk about a notice she had sent to him. The notice asked Mr. Tamhankar, who was her subordinate at work, to improve his work by March 16. The notice period ended on March 16 and Kirti had the authority to terminate his employment. Anxious that he would be fired, Tamhankar asked to change her mind. Kirti was seated in front, while Mr. Tamhankar was in the rear. They initiated the talk but later on it turned into an argument, Kirti was adamant as she was fed up with Tamhankar’s apathetic attitude at work. She verbally warned him and gave several chances before serving the notice. Tamhankar never took her instructions seriously; rather he was in the usual lethargic mode. But, when he received notice in hand, he realised that his eviction is inevitable. That is the reason Khushi helped him reach Kirti when Tamhankar realised she wasn’t going to change her mind, he strangled a handkerchief around her throat from behind and continued until she stopped moving. And Khushi on the driver’s seat became a mute spectator.
When they realised that they had killed her, Sahjwani moved the passenger seat backwards and Tamhankar pulled her body into the rear seat. During the struggle, Kirti had bled from her nose and ears, some of which spilled onto the floor mat in the car’s rear. Tamhankar pushed the body into the boot space behind the rear seat. Sahjwani parked the car outside her Andheri residence. They switched off Kirti’s phone and went to their workplace as if nothing happened. After work, the duo returned to the car and drove towards Kalanagar Creek in Bandra, intending to dump the body there. However, they found the area to be too crowded and kept driving. Finally, they reached Mahul, where they discarded the body. The blood spilled on the rear seat mat became clinching evidence.
In fact, Siddhesh revealed these details only after it was all captured through CCTV. Vyas’s family also speculated his involvement in the apparent murder. They kept asking Siddhesh about the same but he refused to confess anything. Kirti’s cousin also confessed that they recently learnt about her body reportedly being kept in the dikki of Siddhesh and his rumoured girlfriend Khushi’s car as her blood stains were found there. The blood was matched with Kirti’s mom and dad through a DNA test and that’s how it was confirmed that it could be the victim’s blood. Police are now taking the help of locals and fisherfolk, in case someone witnessed the body being disposed of. Divers and boats have been hired to locate the body. Kirti’s mother who has been in distraught ever since she lost her daughter gave out a heart-wrenching message to her apparent killers. She reportedly met Siddhesh and told him to return her daughter if they want them to withdraw the case.
B.Com graduate Tamhankar lives with his parents and brother at Bhoiwada on rent. He worked at BBlunt for the past five years and earned around Rs 25,000 per month. Tamhankar was tired of fiddling in accounts (his job at BBlunt involved handling accounts) and wanted to start a venture of his own. The only reason he was continuing with the job was that it provided the family with a steady income. On March 18, Siddhesh called up his sister and said police had summoned him for questioning in relation to Vyas’s disappearance. For two months, the crime branch summoned Siddhesh every morning and let him go home at night after quizzing him throughout the day. He missed his work and pay. Sahjwani, 42, who lives in a Santacruz highrise with her husband and 16-year-old son, joined BBlunt a couple of years ago. She earned around Rs 60,000-70,000 per month, was in an extra-marital affair with Tamhankar. Sahjwani’s husband used to work in a restaurant. He recently started his own travel business. Siddhesh Tamhankar, the prime accused in Kirti Vyas murder, confessed to the crime only after the co-accused, Khushi Sahjwani broke down during questioning by the crime branch police after their arrest. Later on, Tamhankar had shown them the spot where Kirti’s body was dumped, is a hard nut to crack and not revealing much further. Police have sent their mobile phones for forensic analysis to find messages exchanged before and after the crime.
Right from the way Kirti Vyas was murdered, to how her body was disposed of, all aspects of this case match with that of Sheena Bora’s murder mystery. Sheena was murdered in April 2012 but so far no trial or no justice is done to her, the police are just working on different theories. Not only is that media hell-bent on publishing love letters between Indrani Mukerjea and her husband, now they came up with their divorce reports. Sheena’s murder has taken many twists but no conclusion has arrived so far, hope at least justice is delivered to Kirti Vyas and the case gets solved without the rumour mongering and theory treat to media. Mumbai police arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai for killing Sheena. Later, Indrani’s husband Peter Mukerjea was also arrested for being part of the conspiracy. All are in jail with different storylines but time will only tell what is the real story behind both of these murders, till then are we going to enjoy gossips served by the media?
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