Mumbai: There was a new revelation in the Lalbaug murder case that surfaced on March 15, with police sources suggesting that the accused, Rimple Prakash Jain, 24, had allegedly been ‘inspired’ to chop up the body of her 55-year-old mother, Veena Prakash Jain, from an episode of the television show Crime Patrol.
Police had found Veena’s body at her residence, chopped into pieces and wrapped inside plastic bags stored in the cupboard and bathroom. Rimple, who resided with her mother, first denied any knowledge of the situation but during the interrogation, she said she had done so in order to keep the news of her mother’s death under wraps.
Veena Jain died accidentally, after she fell off the building stairs: Police sources
The Free Press Journal had earlier reported about police sources confirming that Rimple had not killed her mother in the first place and that it was an accident. However, the act of chopping up the body was a planned attempt to mask the entire act. Police sources further confirmed that Veena’s death had occurred in the last week of December, after she accidentally fell off the building stairs. Two men who ran a Chinese eatery stall in the neighbourhood had helped Rimple take the body back to the Jain residence. Apparently, they had suggested Rimple take her mother to the hospital in view of the injuries Veena had sustained after falling off the steps.
However, instead of taking her to the hospital for treatment, Rimple kept her home because of financial constraints; she had no means to pay the hospital. Sources confirmed that Veena may have died on the same day or the following day, as the injuries were severe.
“After the victim died, the accused daughter started panicking. Already the duo was living in the house of a relative and they didn’t have any source of income. Worried that if the matter of her mother’s death were to come out, she (Rimple) would be thrown out and left homeless and penniless, she decided to discard the body on her own,” said a police source.
Chopping of body inspired after watching Crime Patrol episodes
While at home, she kept watching Crime Patrol, a show that depicts real-life crimes and this is where she got the idea of disposing of the body discreetly.
She got an electric marble cutter, chopper and a knife from a store nearby, which she used to chop her mother’s arms, legs, torso and bones. Then she wrapped these and stored it in the cupboard – waiting for an opportunity to discard it far away.
Police teams sent to Kanpur & Uttar Pradesh to find another person involved in the case
Further, the FPJ had reported that a team of police officers had gone to Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to trace a man with whom Rimple had last been in contact with, over her mobile phone. The man was brought to Mumbai but during interrogation, it was ascertained that he had no role in the murder. The police let him go after recording his statement.
“All persons who were in touch with the accused are being interrogated, including the one who was called from UP. However, nobody has been detained or arrested yet. Further investigation is on,” DCP (Zone 4), Dr Praveen Munde, told the FPJ.
