Mumbai cops crack two senior citizens’ murders

Greed for money drove a senior to execute the September 14 murder of her best friend, another elderly, at Kannamwar Nagar in Vikhroli. On Tuesday, the city crime branch arrested the senior citizen, Laxmibai Dangde, 61. Dangde knew that the victim’s children would soon get married and that lots of jewellery and cash would be stashed at home. It’s the lure of this treasure that prompted her to execute the killing.

According to the police, Kamble was murdered in the afternoon. Her nephew Sandeep discovered the body on a cot. Kamble’s head was smashed and some ornaments and valuables were missing from the scene of the crime.

Explaining the sequence of events, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Himanshu Roy said, around 1.30pm on September 14, Dangde came to Kamble’s house. The two then started chatting and minutes later, an immediate neighbour of Kamble, identified as Siddh Ganesh, came in and requested Kamble to help him switch on his LPG cylinder. At this point, Dangde chipped in and said she would help him instead.

“She then went to Ganesh’s flat, switched on the gas cylinder and came back to Kamble. After 15 minutes, Dangde left Kamble’s flat, so that everyone could see her leaving. Knowing that Kamble would sleep in the afternoon, around 2.45pm, Dangde again came to Kamble’s flat and said she was getting bored and wanted to chat with her,” said Roy.

They then saw TV for some time before Kamble told her to leave as she wanted to sleep. “Dangde said she would leave in a while and continued watching TV, while Kamble went to sleep. While Kamble was sleeping, Dangde took a hard stone kept in the house and smashed her head, resulting in her death,” said Roy.
Dangde then looked for the cupboard keys, but could not find it.

She then decampedwith a gold chain, earrings and Kamble’s mobile phone, said Additional Commissioner Deven Bharti.

The stone used in the crime and the stolen gold chain have been recovered, said Deputy Commissioner Nisar Tamboli.