04 August,2018 12:20 PM IST | Mumbai | Rahul Mahajani
Kirti Vyas
While murdered salon professional Kirti Vyas's body is yet to be found, the police have finally dropped in evidence in the case to establish how Vyas's blood landed in suspect and Vyas's colleague Khushi Sahjwani's car. In the charge sheet of the case, submitted on July 30, they said the blood might have come out of Vyas's body because she was kept in the hot and humid vehicle for hours.
The blood, which was found to be Vyas's after a DNA test matched it with that of her parents, had raised doubts on the police, considering there was no mention of a 'bloody' element in the killing. In fact, Siddhesh Tamhankar, the other suspect who also worked with Vyas, claimed to have killed Vyas by strangulating her with a handkerchief.
Hot and humid
To ensure this point was not exploited against them in court, the crime branch took the statement of a senior forensic official from a leading government hospital and attached it as part of the 962-page charge sheet.
Vyas was murdered by Tamhankar around 9 am on March 16 in Sahjwani's car. After she was killed, her body was kept in the parking lot till 9 pm, post which they took the car out to go dump her body.
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According to the forensic expert, who is now also a witness in the case, the blood found in the car might have come out of either her mouth, ear or nose, since the body was kept in a hot and humid atmosphere for long hours.
Three things
In their charge sheet, the cops are depending on three things to establish the case against the accused: Vyas being last seen with Sahjwani and Tamhankar, blood in the car, and the behaviour of the accused after the murder.
Vyas was allegedly killed in a moving car and Tamhankar is said to have even demonstrated on video to the crime branch how he killed her. While the video is part of the charge sheet, it does not hold water in court. After the murder, the suspects had gone to work, but entered the office separately. The charge sheet also mentions how the suspects admitted to first trying to find a spot at Five Gardens in Matunga to dump the body, after which they threw it in Wadala. Sahjwani's car was seen on as many as four CCTVs at the BPT toll naka at night, which has been presented as evidence.
One-month notice
Apart from this, the notice issued by Vyas to Tamhankar on February 16 for his shoddy work is part of the charge sheet. She was allegedly killed by Tamhankar exactly a month later, on March 16, as Sahjwani drove the car.
The two have been booked for murder, kidnapping and other IPC sections. The case has been very challenging so far as Vyas's body has not been found and the entire case has been built by the police only on circumstantial evidence.
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