The sessions court has sentenced a 51-year-old man to life imprisonment for killing his neighbour in Borivali over the latter’s refusal to share documents of her rented flat at Eksar Neelkamal CHS.
On January 23, 2016, the victim, Vaneeta Mendon, and her daughter Pooja came back home after grocery shopping at 6.30pm. Their neighbour Rajesh Rathod started arguing with Vaneeta, while Pooja went ahead to unlock their door. Suddenly, Pooja heard her mother shouting and found Rathod had held a knife to her, demanding documents of their flat. Vaneeta asked him to not talk to them about it and speak to the real estate agent directly.
The mother-daughter duo tried to rescue themselves and go back to their house but as it was still locked, they tried to enter their neighbour’s house. However, Rathod caught Vaneeta, stabbed her and fled. The police were called and Vaneeta was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Later, Rathod surrendered to the police. He was found to be inebriated and incoherent. In his defence, he claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the case as there was a dispute on account of the flat with the housing society’s officer-bearers, and that the murder was committed by an unknown person.
The court relied on the testimonies of Pooja and other residents of the building who were eyewitnesses to the crime, and held Rathod guilty.
