Khar Police reconstructed the scene of crime in 19-year-old Jhanvi Kukreja's murder case, wherein they brought both the prime accused-- Shree Jogdhankar, 22 and Diya Padalkar, 18, to the spot. Police used to dummy matching Jhanvi's height and weight, and the scene was reconstructed to ascertain if the statements given by both the accused match the reconstruction. Moreover, Shree, who was discharged from the hospital on Friday, will now be in police custody for further probe.
According to police sources, a team of five forensic experts reconstructed the crime scene along with a team of videographers to ascertain if the accused duo were saying the truth. On Saturday morning, police reconstructed the crime scene for over two hours with two dummy bodies, colour powder to point which was blood and where did the body fall as per the statements given by Shree and Diya. Sniffer dogs were also brought at the crime scene.
The dummy bodies, matching Jhanvi's specifications were thrown, pushed and scuffed to ascertain how her body reached ground floor from second floor. Police sources claimed that they are probing two theories in this -- accused may have thrown Jhanavi from second floor or accused may have dragged Jhanvi by her hair from second floor to ground floor. Shree and Diya will also be questioned together in the coming days to corroborate their statements, said an officer close to the investigation.
While Shree has refused to cooperate with the investigators, police and the forensic experts suspect that it is unlikely that Jhanvi's death was an accidental death and are comparing the findings of the statements, forensic analysis and autopsy said an official. Police said that the arrested duo are likely ro undergo a lie detector test with the court's permission, once they are sent to judicial custody.
The case, which has no eyewitnesses except the arrested duo, has gone through many hurdles including the suspects not revealing what went wrong. Moreover, the investigating officer of this case, police inspector Dilip Utekar, was tested positive for COVID and the case was transferred to the senior inspector Gajanan Kabdule. Meanwhile, Diya's father has claimed that his daughter, a close friend of Jhanvi's for 13 years, is mentally disturbed and needs to see a psychiatrist. Police accepted the request and said she can be consulted with one at a civic-run hospital, as she is in police custody.
The advocate representing Jhanvi Kukreja's family, Trivankumar Karnani has demanded a change of the public prosecutor at the present pre-trial stage itself and appointment of a Special Public Prosecutor, as he feels that the present public prosecutor did not put up a strong case before the honourable magistrate. Meanwhile, Shree's lawyer, Ganesh Gupta, has raised suspicion over his mysterious injuries that are yet unexplained.
