Anand brothers conspired to kill Priya: Witness

MUMBAI: Suresh Armugam (17), the star prosecution witness in the Priya Rajwansh murder trial, on Tuesday said he overheard the Anand brothers, Ketan and Vivek, conspiring with their servants Ashokan Chinnaswamy and Mala Choudhary to kill the actress.
Armugam, who once worked as servant at the Anand household, was deposing before sessions judge S.P. Nikam who is presiding over the day-to-day trial in the murder case.
The actress, a close friend of late film-maker Chetan Anand, was found murdered in his Juhu bungalow on March 27, 2000.
The film-maker’s sons Ketan and Vivek, along with Ashoka and Mala, are the four accused persons in the case, which is largely based on circumstantial evidence.
The police theory is that Ketan and Vivek had conspired to kill Priya due to a property dispute.
Chetan Anand had left one-third share in his property to her.
However, the Anand brothers have refuted the police claim and said there was no quarrel over the property. The bungalow occupied by Chetan Anand was a rented one.
Public prosecutor Kiran Makasare produced two witnesses to depose before the court on Tuesday. While Armugam was the star witness, the other was actor-director-producer Shashi Ranjan, a friend of the murdered actress.
Armugam, who was 15 at the time of the murder, said he was called by Mala from his workplace at Lokhandwala to the Anand residence on March 26.
At the house, he said, he overheard the Anand brothers telling the two servants that they must eliminate Priya and that they would support them.
According to Armugam, the watchman of Vijay Raj Singh, the maharaja of Bhavnagar whose mother was Priya’s friend, came looking for the actress around 9.30 p.m. on March 27. He was reportedly sent away by Mala who said Priya would come in five minutes.
Armugam claimed that after sending the watchman away, Mala asked Ashokan to wait in the bathroom as she knew that Priya had a habit of visiting the toilet before leaving the house. “I was asked to remove the bathroom fuse, which I did. Mala followed Priya into the bathroom and I heard Priya screaming for help,’’ Armugam said, adding that he later saw Ashokan, followed by Vivek, going towards the sea.
After a while, Ketan too reportedly walked out. “I was scared and so left the bungalow,’’ he added.
Armugam will continue to depose on Wednesday. In his deposition, Shashi Ranjan said when he couldn’t contact the doctor for Priya’s death certificate, he spoke to actor Shatrughna Sinha. He added that when Sinha called the doctor to find out why the death certificate had not been issued, the doctor said it was a case of unnatural death.