MUMBAI: Malabar Hill police have arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly killing his 55-year-old neighbour and robbing her gold chain within 24 hours after her body was found in her chawl room at Nepean Sea Road.The murder came to light on Saturday after Jyoti Pawar, who worked as a domestic help, failed to respond to repeated calls from her family. Her daughter, Ekta Jadhav, who lives in Dahisar, became concerned as her mother was known to follow a fixed routine and was not answering her phone.Relatives reached Pawar’s residence and found the room locked from inside. After gaining entry, they found Pawar dead with visible injury marks around her neck. Malabar Hill police were alerted.Police sent the body for post-mortem examination and doctors prima facie opined that Pawar had died due to strangulation. Based on the complaint lodged by her daughter, police registered a case of murder against an unidentified person.Investigators examined CCTV footage from the locality, questioned neighbours, and verified the movements of persons who had visited the chawl around the time of the crime.During investigations, suspicion fell on Pawar’s neighbour Mohammed Kaif after police found inconsistencies in his version. They gathered technical and circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime.Kaif was detained for questioning, during which he allegedly confessed to strangling Pawar to death. He told investigators that he had recently suffered losses in his small business and was facing financial difficulties.According to the police, he knew Pawar wore a gold chain and planned to rob her. On Saturday, Kaif allegedly entered Pawar’s house on some pretext and strangled her to death before fleeing with her gold chain.Police said the recovery of the stolen chain and other evidence collected during the investigation strengthened the case against Kaif, who has been booked on charges of murder and robbery under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Further investigation is underway to establish the complete sequence of events and gather additional forensic evidence against the accused.
