Crime branch asks Kalina lab to conduct further tests on skeleton

Mumbai Police Crime Branch held a meeting Wednesday with officials of the forensic sciences laboratory (FSL) in Kalina. At the meeting, FSL was asked to conduct further tests on the partial skeleton of Sandhya Singh found in Navi Mumbai.

"We need to know exactly when Sandhya was killed. We also need to know if the injuries on the skeleton are post-mortem or ante-mortem," said additional commissioner of police (crime) Niket Kaushik.

Police said knowing the time of death would help narrow list of suspects. Also, questioning of suspects and examining of call data records could be carried out with the time in mind.

Kaushik said FSL would shortly get back to the crime branch on the time further tests would take.

Sandhya, sister of music composers Jatin and Lalit and yesteryear actresses Sulakshana and Vijeta Pandit, had gone missing on December 13. Her partial skeleton was found along Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai in January.

The murder case was transferred to Mumbai Police Crime Branch after the Pandit family accused Navi Mumbai Police of conducting a shoddy probe since the very beginning.

Thursday, the crime branch will begin recording statements of people connected with the case — family, friends and acquaintances of Sandhya and all those who were grilled by Navi Mumbai Police.

Suspects include Sandhya son Raghuveer, his girlfriend and an assistant inspector at NRI Police Station. Raghuveer allegedly shared a bitter relationship with Sandhya, and his girlfriend was reportedly the reason for further resentment between the two.

The assistant inspector used to allegedly have regular phone conversations with Sandhya, sometimes for as long as 40 minutes.

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