Woman staffer among four arrested for Kwatra murder

Six days after a 65-year-old man was murdered at LIC colony in Borivli, the police arrested four people, including his assistant.

Navraj Kwatra, son of poet and writer Amrita Pritam, was smothered to death in his studio apartment on September 14. The motive behind the murder was robbery, said the police.

The arrested people have been identified as Kwatra’s assistant Savita Gupta, her 17-year-old brother, boyfriend Vinay alias Vipul Bose, 24, and his friend Gaurank Khawale, 21. Bose and Khawale live in the same building at Swaraj society in Elphinstone Road while Gupta lives in Worli koliwada.

The police said Gupta had been working with Kwatra for the past few months. Gupta’s boyfriend had recently quit his job was needed money. Gupta had told Bose that Kwatra was rich and had a lot of property.

“Bose roped in Khawale and plotted the robbery. Khawale works in a courier company and also required money to repair his bike. Gupta agreed to show them Kwatra’s apartment. Her younger brother was asked to keep a watch outside the apartment and call an autorickshaw to escape after the crime,” said a police officer.

“On September 13, they conducted a recce after Gupta accompanied Bose and Khawale till Borivli station. Kwatra’s The apartment was locked,” said the officer.

The next day, Bose, Khawale and Gupta’s younger brother went to Kwatra’s house. Bose and Khawale entered Kwatra’s house posing as courier boys. But they saw a man repairing Kwatra’s computer. They left and approached Kwatra after the man left the house.

“They demanded money from Kwatra but he started screaming for help. They gagged his mouth and tied his hands and legs. They smothered him to death and took away Rs55,000 and a camera,” said Sunil Paraskar, additional commissioner of police (north region).

“At the time of incident, two senior citizens and a woman were standing outside the hosue. When they heard Kwatra scream, they went to his house but found the door shut. The two senior citizen went to backside of the flat and tried to peep inside. The accused then opened the door and ran away. The woman raised an alarm and the two elderly people ran after him, but could not catch them,” said Paraskar.

Savita, Bose and Khawle were remanded in police custody while Savita’s brother was sent to a remand home. “Savita had borrowed money from Kwatra and was being paid a fixed monthly salary,” said a police officer.

Kwatra was a photographer and on an average three to four girls used to visit him every day and he would pay them in cash. Savita was aware that Kwatra kept a lot of cash with him. The police found video films in which girls are dancing, playing dandia and performing puja. The CCTVs in the house were defunct.