Even as the Mumbai police indicated that the primary motive for HDFC VP Siddharth Sanghvi’s murder is robbery, they haven’t yet ruled out the professional rivalry angle completely. Police have been questioning Sanghvi’s colleagues and other staff at HDFC Bank too.
When Sarfaraz Shaikh, the prime accused in the case was arrested, he had initially confessed to being hired by Siddharth Sanghvi’s colleague but had later changed his stance. Over the course of the last four days, Shaikh changed his statement multiple times. In his second statement, the accused claimed three people from HDFC bank had met him with a contract to kill Sanghvi.
The fourth time, he finally claimed that he murdered the banker for Rs 30,000 but the first theory is what stuck with Sanghvi’s family and friends. Sanghvi’s friends and relatives believe that there has to be more than ‘robbery’ as motive in the case as the Mumbai police’s story is filled with loopholes.
The police, however, are relying heavily on CCTV footage and circumstantial evidence but think the possibility of Shaikh killing Sanghvi to rob him is higher.
Banker Siddharth Sanghvi’s quick promotions at his workplace had raised quite a few eyebrows among colleagues. “His contemporaries and colleagues were not too happy with his sudden growth in the company,” claim investigators from Navi Mumbai police who were the first ones to arrest Sarfaraz Shaikh.
Meanwhile, HDFC officials have denied the rivalry angle.
According to Sarfaraz Shaikh’s statement, he had planned the murder in advance. Since he worked as a fabricator at Kamala Mills for the last few years, he knew the area very well. Shaikh was aware that HDFC had a separate parking area and he had also noticed the timing when Siddharth used to leave office.
Shaikh had carefully noticed the positioning of CCTV cameras in the compound and marked locations that were not covered by cameras. The parking place where Sanghvi parked his car was a secluded one.
Sarfaraz Shaikh then dumped Sanghvi’s body inside the car and drove to Haji Malang at around 11pm. Upon reaching the location, Shaikh removed Sanghvi’s watch, a gold chain, his wallet and a high-end smart phone. He then pulled the body from the backseat and dumped it in the bushes. He again got into the car and drove home to Koperkhairane and parked the car there. Surprisingly, he did not care to clean up the car or the blood on the seat and car mat.
The cops caught a breakthrough when Shaikh switched on Sanghvi’s phone for a few seconds and removed the SIM card to replace it with his own. Unaware that the phone was being traced by the police, Shaikh called up Sanghvi’s father and asked him not to search for his son. He told him that the banker was with him and was safe. He also asked him to wait for his next call. The police who were already in pursuit, traced the number and reached Sarfaraz Shaikh and arrested him.
“Shaikh had even claimed to the Navi-Mumbai Cops initially, that somebody had paid him Rs 10,000 to dispose of the body. Those angles need to be explored,” said a police official.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)