Husband plotted morning walk murder,say cops

The Crime Branch unravelled the plot on Thursday,citing an extramarital affair as Jiten Dedhia’s motive in getting Beena Dedhia killed. The other woman is Rupal Chedda,39,wife of Beena’s brother. The lovers have been arrested,along with three others.

Beena was unwilling to grant a divorce. Jiten,41,allegedly paid Rs 1 lakh to contract killers,who made some aborted attempts before succeeding on October 27.

The couple were on a morning walk on G D Ambedkar Marg,Kalachowkie,when the killers struck,slashing Beena’s throat and stabbed her in the stomach. Jiten appeared to have been injured in the hand.

“It initially appeared to be the work of chain snatchers and all police stations and Crime Branch units were on the job. Around 450 known chain-snatchers were brought in for questioning. Early this morning,raids were conducted in Mumbai and Moradabad,and the five were arrested based on intelligence received by Unit 2 of the Crime Branch,” said JCP (Crime) Rakesh Maria.

Besides Jiten and Rupal,the others arrested are Hasruddin Mallick alias Azhar Khan,28,Mohammed Nazim Khan,28,and Rajnikant Wagh alias Chhotu,61. Mallick,who runs a fruit juice stall at Lalbaugh,close to Jiten’s grocery shop,and Khan,a taxi driver,were allegedly the two motorcyclists.

Rupal,married to Beena’s brother Paresh,was allegedly part of the plot. She tutors primary students,takes contracts for mehendi work,and makes chocolates. She and Jiten had been involved in the extramarital affair for one-and-a-half years,Maria said.

“For three months till the murder,Jiten had been asking for a divorce and Beena kept refusing. Ultimately,he got desperate and engineered his wife’s murder,” said Maria.

Police say Jiten had told Mallick and Khan at 5 am that he would take his wife out for a walk. They attacked at 5.45. “Later,Jiten called them back and asked them to finish the job properly. He threatened to name them if his wife survived. The two then returned and Khan stabbed her in the stomach. He was then ordered to slash Jiten’s hand and to take his wallet and mobile phone to make the act believable,” said Maria.

Khan was paid Rs 31,000,Mallick Rs 29,000. Wagh,who runs a newspaper stall near Mallick’s juice stall,introduced Wagh to Jiten and received Rs 41,000.

“The conspiracy was hatched on October 4,at Darbar Hotel in Lalbaugh. On October 21,Jiten handed them a photograph of his wife,” Maria said.

The next day,he allegedly took her to Matunga Market but she left before the killers arrived. On October 26,Jiten took her to an ice-cream parlour at Matunga,but the crowd was too large for the killers to strike,Maria said.

The Mumbai Police Commissioner has announced a reward of Rs 30,000 to the Crime Branch team on the case. Crucial information was received by police constables Anwar Memmon,Irfan Khan and Hriday Mishra.