Sarfaraz Shaikh, the Navi Mumbai resident arrested for the alleged murder of banking executive Siddharth Sanghavi, had once again changed his claims in his interrogation, further confusing the police, investigating officers said on Wednesday.
Mr. Shaikh was arrested on September 9 for allegedly stabbing Sanghavi to death in the parking lot of the HDFC Bank in Kamala Mills, where Sanghavi worked as a vice-president. Mr. Shaikh allegedly disposed of the body in Kalyan, from where it was later recovered, and drove Sanghavi’s car to Koparkhairane, which was also recovered by the police.
According to police sources, while Mr. Shaikh had earlier claimed that he killed Sanghavi while trying to rob him as he had fallen behind on the EMIs of his bike, he has now claimed that he had mortgaged the bike.
“Mr. Shaikh now says he used to drive for a fleet cab company, but that his car was repossessed by the bank after he missed loan instalments, after which he mortgaged his bike. He gave us the name and rough address in Navi Mumbai of the person he is supposed to have mortgaged it with. Our team searched the area on Tuesday, but did not find this person,” an officer who is part of the investigation said.
Another officer said that Mr. Shaikh has claimed that he parked Sanghavi’s car close to his residence because he wanted to sell it after cleaning it as soon as possible, as he found no cash on Sanghavi’s person. “Mr. Shaikh claims that he had seen Sanghavi withdraw large amounts of cash from an ATM in the Kamala Mills Compound on more than one occasion, which is why he chose him as a target. However, when he found no cash on Sanghavi, he decided to sell his vehicle instead,” the officer said.
The police are still interrogating Mr. Shaikh to clear the constant differences in his claims, officers said.