Arvind Gupta Was Planning To Cross Over To Bangladesh To Live There With His Girlfriend
Mumbai : The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested Arvind Gupta alias Guddu in connection with the murder of Shagufta Khan at her Malad residence, from Howrah railway station in Kolkata at 6 am on Thursday.
He was planning to cross over to Bangladesh.
The arrest solved the high-profile murder of Khan, 38, who was big time bookie Sonu Jalan’s live-in partner of 15 years. According to the police, Gupta was planning to flee to Bangladesh to live there with his girlfriend, who belongs to that country and used to work as a prostitute in Grant Road, Mumbai, earlier. For this purpose, Gupta had allegedly planned the murder at least three months in advance.
Khan’s gold jewellery and cash that Gupta had stolen on November 11 after murdering her at her posh apartment in the Rustomjee Reviera building in Malad west was also seized. The jewellery and cash together is valued at approximately Rs 70 lakh. Gupta was picked up by a team of three officers of Unit XI who had flown to West Bengal soon after the murder took place.
“Gupta was brought to Mumbai late on Thursday evening and taken to a night magistrate to get his remand. We will now interrogate him for the details of the events that took place on the day he committed the crime,” said an officer privy to the investigation.
According to statements given by Gupta’s family and other people who were questioned, he had left his parents’ house in Goregaon and had started living separately with his girlfriend. While his girlfriend used to visit her home country regularly, Gupta too had been there with her a couple of times. He sent her there a few weeks back, and was set to join her after robbing Khan.
“We have had great help of the footage that we acquired from the building’s CCTV camera on the ground floor and the lift to identify the accused. In addition, human intelligence has also played a big role as Gupta’s plans were revealed to our officers through their sources,” said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Sadanand Date.
The police have found no indication of involvement of any other person in the crime. They have also reco-rded the statement of Jalan who was in Australia.
[alert type=”e.g. warning, danger, success, info” title=””]“We have had great help of the footage that we acquired from the building’s CCTV camera on the ground floor and the lift to identify the accused.”
– Sadanand Date, Joint Commissioner of Police[/alert]
