70-year-old, aide killed in Thane

In a shocking incident, unknown persons murdered a 70-year-old man and his caretaker on Tuesday afternoon in the posh Regency Heights building located near Brahmand Complex in Ghodbunder, Thane.

The deceased have been identified as Sitaram Shroff (70) and Santosh Lavangare (34). “The house was owned by Shroff who stayed with his granddaughter and caretaker Lavangare. On the day of the incident, Shroff and Lavangare were the only ones at home,” said an officer from Kasarvadavli Police station, which is investigating the case.

Officials suspect that the murderers took advantage of an ongoing pooja happening on the 17th floor of the building where Shroff stayed. “There was a pooja in a flat two floors above the Shroff’s flat. Because of this, the building’s security guards had been informed to let everyone in without creating much hassle,” said the officer. The officials think that the accused either went to the 17th floor and then came down to the deceased’s house or directly went to their house under the pretext of going to the floor above.

Piecing together the case, the officials said that the murders happened sometime in the afternoon. “Shroff’s granddaughter who had gone to office returned home at around 9.30 pm and panicked when nobody opened the door and repeated phone calls went unanswered. She then opened the door with her key and entered to find her grandfather and the caretaker lying in a pool of blood,” said the officer.

Sources informed that Lavangare had been attacked repeatedly with a sharp weapon and had injuries on his head and body and was found in the hall of the house. Shroff, on the other hand, had died due to strangulation and having his throat slit. “A pillow had been stuffed in Shroff’s mouth and then his throat was slit with a sharp weapon. He was lying dead in the bedroom of the house,” said the officer.

Shroff, whose wife passed away many years ago, was initially staying in the house with Lavangare. His granddaughter had recently moved in with him as her parents divorced and her primary caretaker, her father, passed away. Shroff’s grandson, who is also said to be working, has a house nearby.

According to the officials preliminary probe has ruled out robbery. “We suspect it could have been a property dispute and that the murderers either knew the deceased or were at least aware of the property owned by him,” said an officer. He added that Shroff had recently come into money after having sold property in Prabhadevi which had fetched him nearly Rs 4 crore. Police sources say that some property papers and cash were missing from the house.