Sion police bungled in Sawant murder case

mumbai: adding to the list of instances of the police failing to produce evidence against people they''ve arrested, investigations by the crime branch reveal that the sion police bungled in the chanda sawant murder case.
chanda sawant (46), wife of nationalist congress party activist arvind sawant and daughter-in-law of retired deputy commissioner of police j.k.sawant, was stabbed in her flat near sion police station on december 6.
although the sion police initially found nothing missing from the flat, arvind sawant later alleged that a diamond pendant and rs 1,000 in cash had disappeared.
the police then arrested ramesh pujari (24) and sudhakar pujari (24) who worked in cafe amrut, located on the ground floor of the building in which the sawants lived in. after interrogating the duo, the police arrested mrs sawant''s brother-in-law vinod sawant who, they alleged in the chargesheet, was close to her. this was based on ramesh pujari''s claim that vinod sawant had told them to kill mrs sawant. the police found no evidence or witnesses to corroborate this charge.
but ramesh pujari changed his statement on december 15 to declare that arvind sawant had paid him to kill mrs sawant because he suspected his wife of having an affair with with vinod sawant. the police then booked arvind sawant as the fourth accused.
the sion police have now been criticised for believing pujari''s claims and pressing charges against vinod and arvind sawant without gathering any evidence.
but the police were in for further trouble when pujari changed his position once again on december 29. in his confession to the kurla court, he said that he and sudhakar pujari had not killed mrs sawant but had merely gone to the flat to threaten her ``when told to do so by arvind sawant''''.
on january 29, police commissioner m.n. singh handed over the investigation to the crime branch. the crime branch has now shred to pieces the sion police''s conspiracy theory. the crime branch also seized mrs sawant''s mangalsutra, valued at rs 12,000, from the pujari duo.
the crime branch has stated that arvind sawant wasn''t involved in the murder and discharged vinod sawant of the murder charge. vinod sawant was in judicial custody till february 27.
the crime branch has now filed a chargesheet in the court stating that mrs sawant was murdered because she had objected to the illicit relationship between ramesh pujari and her maid, shaila paste. pujari used to run errands for mrs sawant.
mrs sawant sacked paste and had insulted pujari several times. the crime branch believes that pujari avenged the insult with his friend''s help.
the crime branch has tried to prove the relationship between pujari and paste, who has a three-month-old daughter, by matching their dna samples at the hyderabad-based centre for dna, fingerprints and diagnostics.
the crime branch has cited 116 witnesses to be examined during the trial, which is likely to begin next month.