Mumbai: A woman was arrested a day after her boyfriend and their accomplice were held for the alleged attempted murder of her husband, a software engineer employed at the National Stock Exchange, on the main road outside Andheri railway station recently.
The victim, who suffered four deep knife wounds to his neck and back in the attack, is being treated in a hospital.
Police said the woman and her boyfriend had planned to kill the man a few months ago too, in Gujarat, but had failed.
The crime took place around 6.30am on February 19, minutes after the victim, Viren Shah (38), dropped his wife Jinal (35), a housewife, at the station and walked to their parked car. That was when two armed men attacked him right in front of many on the busy main road and sped away on their scooter. Andheri police arrested the duo —road contractor Vipul Patel (35), who is Jinal’s boyfriend, and his unemployed friend Abhishek Barot (26)—from Surat and Kheda in Gujarat, respectively, on Thursday. The duo led to Jinal’s arrest on Friday from Andheri.
Jinal and Patel had allegedly planned the crime for February 19 when she was to leave for Surat from her Andheri home to attend a family function. “Initially, his wife acted as if she was not aware of anything and claimed she boarded the train to head to Surat after Shah dropped her at the station, after which he was attacked,” DCP (Zone X) Maheshwar Reddy told TOI.
Reddy supervised a team comprising Andheri police senior inspector Santaji Ghorpade, assistant inspector Hanmant Shirsagar, sub-inspector Digamber Pagar, and the detection staff, which worked on the CCTV grabs from the spot and the route the accused took to flee. The investigation team first managed to collect information on Barot.
“Barot led us to Patel who confessed to the offence, saying it was committed on instruction from Shah’s wife who was in a relationship with him for five years in college. They got in touch again some time ago,” said assistant inspector Shirsagar.
Senior inspector Ghorpade said they analysed the victim and his wife’s call details. “We have seized the white scooter and the knife used in the attack,” said sub-inspector Pagar. The trio has been booked under IPC sections 34 (common intention) and 307 (attempt to murder). They are currently in police custody.
