72-year-old banker Ramdas Khaire found dead in Shrivardhan; murder suspects, Archana Salve and her husband, arrested | File Photo
Navi Mumbai: A 72 year old retired banker was found dead in his residence at Shrivardhan in Raigad district which has lead to the arrest of a 31 year old lady and her husband who murdered him at his residence. The deceased Ramdas Govind Khaire, lived alone at his residence and around a hear and half back, the accused lady had got in touch with him after she came to know that he was looking for an alliance after the death of his second wife.
On December 1, a resident of Shrivardhan, Prajot Jadhav was contacted by one of the sons of Khaire from Mumbai asking him to check on his father as his phone has not been reachable since the previous day. Jadhav finds Khaire dead at his residence- Kundan residency- and informs the police.
“There was injury on his forehead and the house was locked from outside which lead to the suspicion of murder,” police inspector Balasaheb Khade from Local Crime Branch (LCB), Raigad, said.
During the course of investigations, the police found the number of Archana Salve (36) in the call data record of Khaire as the most called person. And while checking the call data record of Salve, they found number of her husband Harshal Kachar Ankush (33) as the most called number.
Accordingly the duo were arrested from Chembur in Mumbai after which the story behind the murder was revealed. Khaire has two sons and one daughter settled in Mumbai and after retirement, Khaire, who was a banker in MUmbai, shifted to Shrivardhan. After the death of his first wife, he had got married the second time. The second wife too passed away during Covid after which he had been staying alone at his residence.
Around two years back, he again started looking for an alliance in which he found one woman named Kavita. “Kavita had demanded a flat in Mumbai and gold jewellery from Khaire due to which he did not proceed with the alliance. Meanwhile, Kavita passed on his details to Salve after which Salve contacted Khaire and befriended him,” Khade said.
According to police, it is suspected that Salve got in touch with Khaire around a year and half back. “Salve had lived with him for some time initially during which he had given her some money and jewellery,” Raigad Additional Superintendent of Police Abhijit Shivthare said.
Lately, Khaire had started asking his money and jewellery back from her which had been bothering her. In the month of June, Salve had got married to Ankush and she told him that Khaire had been blackmailing her with her photographs and convinced him that Khaire should be killed. Accordingly, the duo hatched the plan.
On November 11, Ankush dropped Salve at Shrivardhan and she went to stay with Khaire and convinced him that she planned to stay with him ahead. He went back to Mumbai the same day and came back on November 18 with a plan to kill Khaire at night.
Ankush stayed in a hotel till ovember 22 but they could not find the right time to kill him as Khiare used to not sleep much at night. “Finally the duo decided to feed him pesticide with food and make him fall unconscious and then kill him,” Khade added.
Accordingly, on November 29, Salve spiked his food with pesticide and fed him and after he fell unconscious, she called Ankush. He then used a heavy object and hit Khaire on head and also smothered him with a pillow to make sure he was dead.
The duo then cleaned the house and then fled with the mobile phone, cash and some valuables of the deceased. “The relatives of the deceased are yet to verify the missing belongings from the house,” Shivthare added.
