Palande was eyeing Arun Tikku’s Rs50-crore property: Mumbai police

Even as the police have begun questioning Vijay Palande, details of his plot with regard to the Arun Tikku murder case are surfacing.
Palande has told his interrogators that he had planned to take Tikku’s son, Aunj, to Slovakia and dump him there. Palande had also planned to take possession of Anuj’s passport, and return to India and take over his Rs50-crore property.

Palande and Anuj met two years ago, and became friends through model-cum- actress Simran Sood.

“Anuj went to Delhi once, and when he returned, Palande asked him the reason for his visit. Anuj told Palande that his father had made a will, and as per the will, he would be the legal heir of property worth Rs50 crore. Palande wanted to gradually grab all of Anuj’s properties,” said a crime branch officer, requesting anonymity.

Phase one of his plan was taking Tikku’s flat on lease and keeping his two aides, Dhanajay Shinde and Manoj Gajkosh, as paying guests in the flat.
Police sources said, “Palande himself called Anuj’s father, and told him that he had taken his flat on lease. So, Arun came to Mumbai and had an argument with Anuj about why he had given out the flat.”

The sources added, “Palande planned to kill Arun on the night of April 7, since the latter was scheduled to fly to Delhi the next morning. The same afternoon, Palande got Anuj in his car on the pretext of taking a long drive to Goa, giving his associates enough time to kill Arun. Palande also planned to take Anuj to Slovakia, forcibly take his signatures on the property papers, and take his passport so that he could not return to India.”