Love on Net ends with murder in web of deceit

On Sunday night, she was shot in an Andheri hotel room, possibly in her sleep. She was found dead on Monday afternoon in room number 202 of Sun-N-Shine. Police said she had two bullet wounds, one in the temple and another in the neck. They found two empty glasses, one of them with bloodstains, a bottle of 8 PM whisky and a pistol in the room.

Police said the killer probably used a pillow — they found one with two bullet holes — to muffle the gunshots, and turned up the volume of the TV.

Kaushambi had checked into the hotel on May 12 with a man called Manish Thakur and they had signed in as Mr and Mrs Thakur.

“Thakur was married but he still had a relationship with Kaushambi. He had told her family members that he would get a divorce and marry Kaushambi. We suspect that Thakur might not have told his wife about his relationship with Kaushambi which could have created tension between them,” J J Naiknavare, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone X), said. “We do not say this could be the motive behind the murder as we are still to question Thakur.”

Police say that Kaushambi did not know that Thakur was married when they first met.

The murder, police say, was well-planned. “It does not seem to have been committed on the spur of the moment, the accused had two weapons with him,” said Pradeep Sonawane, senior police inspector at Andheri. The police are still looking for Kaushambi’s mobile phone which they suspect Thakur might have taken away. The telephone records they accessed show they were in constant touch with each other through calls and text messages.

A Navy spokesperson said that Thakur was based in Kochi till February 10 but was sent for technical training to Goa. Asked about the weapon Thakur was carrying, he said: “The Navy arms room would have weapons like .9mm and .38 mm pistols but it is...