Mother of Shree Jogdhankar, prime accused in the Khar murder case, writes to Mumbai police, says he was falsely implicated
Shree Jogdhankar
Over three months after 19-year-old Jhanvi Kukreja was allegedly murdered during a New Year’s Eve party at Khar’s Bhagwati Heights building, Bharti Ambadas Jogdhankar, mother of the prime accused, Shree Jogdhankar, has written to the Mumbai Police. She claims that her son has been falsely accused.
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A picture of accused Shree Jogdhankar’s injuries, taken by his friend Harsh at Sion Hospital
In her letter, Bharti also claimed that her son was injured in the incident and that the injury couldn’t have been caused by the deceased, Jhanvi Kukreja, or by the co-accused Diya Padalkar. The nature of the injuries indicates grievous assault, and there is a possibility that some more people are involved in the whole incident, she said.
Bharti said that when she met her son at Taloja Jail, he told her that while he was sitting on the terrace with Kukreja, someone hit him from behind with a sharp weapon. Since he was under the influence of alcohol, he couldn’t remember what happened after that. “The police have retrieved CCTV footage and other electronic evidence from the building, wherein my son is seen leaving the building with grievous head injury, caused by a sharp weapon and was bleeding,” she wrote, adding, “…it seems some glass bottle or such weapons was used for assaulting him… There is a possibility that my son tried to intervene and was assaulted by a few other party goers (sic).”
After leaving the building, Jogdhankar, she said, met his friend Harsh, who took him to Sion Hospital at 3 am. He also clicked photos of his injuries. Earlier, the Khar police had said that Jogdhankar had told the doctor that he had fallen on a road near Mahim. However, the letter stated that it was Harsh, who had informed the hospital that Jogdhankar had met with an accident in Mahim.
She has also asked why the police hadn’t tested others present at the party, for alcohol consumption. “There was free-flowing alcohol at the venue, which was served by the host [Yash Ahuja] without any police or excise permission, even when the Mumbai police commissioner had ordered a night-long curfew on December 31, 2020,” she stated.
She has asked for a “proper and meaningful” investigation to unearth the complete truth. “It is very unfortunate that a young girl died in the incident. She won’t get justice, if the real culprits are not caught,” she said.
When contacted, Jogdhankar’s advocate Mahesh Vaswani said, “Shree was assaulted at the party. These injuries are visible in the CCTV footage. As per medical papers, he dislocated a spinal cord, and broke three ribs. His mother strongly believes that her son is innocent and is framed due to an improper investigation by the Khar Police.”