The Juhu-based home tutor was so violent during the argument with his mother that after raining blows and kicks on the 74-year-old, he hit her with a baseball bat nearly 40 times, the police have said. This left several of her bones broken and caused her death on the spot.
On Thursday, the police recovered the body of Beena Kapoor near Matheran and sent it to Cooper Hospital for post-mortem.
Ajitkumar Vartak, senior police inspector, Juhu police station, said the incident occurred between 6 am and 7 am. After killing her, Sachin, 40, sat clueless for around half an hour before wrapping the body in a plastic cover and putting it in a cardboard box.
Around 9.30 am, he, with the help of his house help, Chhotu Lalkumar Mandal, took the body on a wheelchair from their 7th floor flat in Kalpataru Solitaire building and put it in his car. While Mandal returned to the flat, Sachin went all the way to Navi Mumbai and looked for a spot to dump the body. After driving around Vashi and adjoining nodes till 5 pm, he called Mandal for help, the officer said.
The duo then travelled to Neral and disposed of the body in a valley along Neral-Matheran road. They also got rid of the cardboard box at some distance and returned to the Kapoor family’s second flat on 13th Road in Juhu where both were picked up for questioning and arrested.
Vartak said they are now trying to find out why Sachin killed his mother. “The attack does not seem to be planned. But he carried out the disposal of the body meticulously.”
However, the baseball bat is yet to be found. On Friday, the police will search both the flats and also try to recreate the scene of murder.
Meanwhile, Sachin and Mandal were produced before the metropolitan magistrate court at Andheri on Thursday. They have been remanded in police custody till December 19.
The murder came to light after Nevin, the US-based elder son of Veena, tried to reach his mother and brother around 10.30 pm on Tuesday, but failed despite several phone calls. He then called the building’s security officer but he did not pick it either. Worried, Nevin called Juhu police station and requested them to visit his residence.
A police team reached the building around 11 pm and found the flat locked. On checking the mobile tower locations, they found that the woman’s phone was in the house whereas Sachin’s mobile was somewhere near Panvel.
With the help of a fire brigade team, the police broke open the door. A missing person’s report was filed based on the statement of Javed Mapari, the building’s security supervisor, in the early hours of Wednesday.
The police suspected a foul play after the CCTV cameras caught Sachin and Chhotu placing some heavy luggage – brought on a wheelchair – in his car. The duo was tracked to the second flat and brought to the police station. On interrogation, Sachin revealed how he allegedly killed his elderly mother and dumped the body.
According to the police, at least 13 CCTV cameras and their recordings are missing from the victim’s Juhu flats and they are questioning Sachin about their whereabouts.
Sachin is a postgraduate in mathematics and had worked as a teacher with two English medium schools in the western suburbs.