Mumbai Hitesh Jain, arrested for killing his lover’s husband, Kamlakant Shah, a businessman from Santacruz, had allegedly attempted to kill himself in October when crime branch started parallel probe on the suspicion of murder.
An official attached to Unit 9 of the crime branch said, the incident occurred on October 25, when Jain was driving on Nashik highway in Shahapur taluka. He stopped his car on the side of the road and tried to cut his wrist and made multiple self-injuries to his hand and chest with a sharp object. Later, he even tried to burn himself and sustained burn injuries on his chest and abdomen, the official added.
“It appears that he was tense after being summoned for questioning in the suspected murder and attempted suicide out of frustration,” the official said.
He further added, thereafter Jain started driving and could not control the car and drove off the road, resulting in an accident. He then got off and sat in the back seat. He informed his friend and police. But, when a team from Shahapur police station reached the spot, he told them that two people kidnapped and assaulted him and made away with his valuables.
Jain and Shah’s wife Kavita are accused of murdering Shah, 46, by mixing arsenic and thallium in his food. Police officials claimed that the two met in hotels to plan the murder. The crime branch official said they have recovered an empty bottle of arsenic from the accused.
The police have added section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code to the case. In this regard, the crime branch on Thursday informed the court that their probe has revealed that Jain had destroyed his previous phone, a Samsung S20, on Mumbai-Nahsik highway, but are yet to recover the handset.
The duo was arrested on December 2 and were produced in the court on Thursday after their earlier remand ended and their police custody was extended till December 12.
During the remand hearing, the police informed the court that the accused had searched on the internet about use of arsenic and thallium to commit murder and had tried to buy the highly toxic chemicals through online portals, the officer added.
When Shah was being treated in the hospital and a poisonous substance was found in the metal test report, the doctor had advised for blood test of family members and Kavita tried to avoid it for six days. As per the plan, she had consumed arsenic, diluting the toxin with water, so as to ensure that traces are also noticed in her blood and avoid any suspicion, said a crime branch official.
The suspected killers had obtained thallium and arsenic from a South Mumbai-based supplier as samples, claiming that they wanted to order bulk quantities of the highly toxic chemicals for their pharmaceutical manufacturing unit, Mumbai police crime branch officials said. Hitesh knew the supplier of toxins and lured him to part with small quantities of the chemicals by promising him bulk orders.
Jain and Kavita, according to the police, were having an extramarital affair for around a decade and wanted to get married. They had planned to kill Shah, and accordingly had started mixing arsenic in his food, due to which his health deteriorated. Shah was initially admitted to CritiCare Hospital in Andheri on August 27.
On September 3, he was shifted to Bombay Hospital where he died on September 19. The hospital authorities informed the Azad Maidan police. The incident was reported and transferred to the Santacruz police, who recorded the statement of Shah’s sister Kavita Lalwani. Shah’s sister suspected foul play in her brother’s death. Police officials said the medical report of the Bombay Hospital, where Shah was admitted, suggested traces of thallium and arsenic in his body.