Aged couple's murder: laundryman, associate arrested

mumbai: in less than 24 hours, the kandivli police solved the murder of an elderly couple, who were stabbed at their ground floor flat in sunita apartments in dahanukar wadi, kandivli (west), on monday afternoon. the prime suspect, sunil dhanraj (31), a laundryman, was arrested along with his associate, kantilal rathod (30), on tuesday afternoon. the police have recovered rs 3,000 in cash and ornaments worth about rs 10,000 from them.robbery was the motive behind the gruesome double murders, the police said. the deceased shankar gajwani (68) and his wife kamini (65) were alone at home while their daughter, rekha, was away at work when the murders occurred. ``the laundryman usually comes to the residence at 6 p.m. but on monday, he arrived at around 2 p.m. along with his associate,'' an officer stated. ``they threatened the duo with knives and asked them to hand over the cash and jewellery. when the elderly couple resisted, they were stabbed on the neck, chest and stomach,'' the officer stated. the murder was discovered by a neighbour at around 7.30 p.m and the kandivli police were informed. said an officer : ``the elderly couple would not open the door to strangers. we were certain that the assailants were somebody known to them. besides, we suspected the laundryman since he did not come for collecting the clothes that evening.'' the police also learnt from an eye-witness that the laundryman, dhanraj, had entered the building in the afternoon. a police team detained dhanraj for interrogation. during an hour-long grilling, he reportedly admitted his guilt. the police arrested his associate, rathod, from virar and recovered the booty from him. the elderly couple's daughter, rekha, works in a private telecommunication firm. they also have a son, who works in dubai. mr gajwani ran a small business while his wife, kamini, had retired from the department of posts and telegraph some years ago, the police said. according to police statistics, 10 senior citizens have been murdered this year. about a month ago, a 73-year-old man, temoras patel, was found strangled to death at his residence on the ground in pavwala building in d.b. marg area on wednesday night. the murder is still unsolved. on june 18, 60-year-old varsha chokshi was found murdered at her bungalow in santa cruz. the police claim to have identified the suspects, but no arrests have been made so far. the same month, the mulund police solved the murder of 83-year-old javiben nagda, who was killed allegedly by her daughter-in-law kanchan at her residence in munisuvrat building in mulund (west) on may 30. earlier on may 5, vile parle resident ganesh shirwadekar (86) had died of shock when three persons entered his flat in parleshwar society with robbery as their intent. he died in front of his bed-ridden wife, kamal (77). on february 6, 80-year-old jeroo dalal was murdered at her flat in chateau marine building, near marine drive. the police had detained a domestic worker in the case. but the domestic was found innocent and subsequently let off. meanwhile, the police have not made a breakthrough in the triple murders at hughes road last december. three members of a family__banubai avari (93), her son rusi (75) and daughter-in-law roshan (73) were found bludgeoned to death by an unknown person at their second floor flat in wadia house on december 22. some of the other sensational killings remain unsolved including that of 88-year-old kishni ramachandani in her seventh floor flat at jal darshan near priyadarshini park on june 11 1999 and retired professor mehroo jussawala in her cama terrace house at altamount road on february 17, 1999.