A 69-year-old businessman was found murdered in his upholstery shop's godown in Khar (West) on Monday morning. The Khar police have registered a case of murder against an unidentified person.
Who's the victim?
Mahesh Bafna lived in a society in Ramkrishna Nagar in Khar (West) and ran an upholstery shop by the name Chhaya Beddings in Sai Chhaya Society. The godown, where he was found, is located on the same road in Shakuntala building. He lived with his wife Shashikala. His son Bharat and daughter Panna lived in the same building.
How was he killed?
The police said he was found lying on the godown floor with strangulation marks.
Who found the body?
“We received a call around 10am, after which we reached the spot and started investigating. Bafna's son and daughter found his body. The two had gone searching for him when he did not return from work on Sunday night,” said Satyanarayan Choudhary, DCP of zone IX.
What is the family saying?
Bharat, 42, who is the vice chairman of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Minority Committee, told dna that his father had invested more than Rs25 lakh in a chit fund agency and was being cheated over the last few months. “He recently got to know that he was being cheated by a chit fund agent with whom he had been investing his hard-earned money over the last 15 years. We found out a few days back that the agent had donated this money to a gurdwara and was cheating all his depositors,” Bharat said.
He added that a lot of his father's friends had also invested with the agent who had then refused to answer their calls or return the money. “My father was stressed over this and was planning to meet the agent. Some of his meetings happen at the godown. We don't know if this financial issue could have led to the murder,” he said and added that his father did not discuss his daily routine with the family and kept his problems to himself.
What are the police suspecting?
“We are investigating the case from all possible angles, including robbery, property and financial dispute,” said the officer. “Bafna had been running the shop for more than 30 years and used to shuttle between the godown and shop. We are taking statements from his family to get more leads.”
The police said Bafna's two mobile phones are missing and they are verifying whether any cash and valuables from the godown too are gone.
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