Personal Assistant, boyfriend allegedly killed magazine editor

Mumbai: Less than 36 hours after recovering body of Nityanand Pandey (45), group editor of a monthly magazine titled India Unbound, from Bhiwandi, the local crime branch (LCB) unit of the Thane (rural) police claimed to have solved the murder case.

Two people including Pandey’s personal assistant Ankita Mishra (24) and her boyfriend identified as Satish Mishra (34) have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the crime, which is said to be the result of sexual harassment by the deceased.

Pandey was missing since March 15, and his body was recovered from underneath a bridge in Khardi village.

“The statements of the accused who were last seen with the deceased were varying constantly raising doubts. On interrogation, both confessed to the crime,” said sup-erintendent of police, Dr Shivaji Rathod.

According to police, Ankita allegedly laid a honey trap for Pandey and offered him a drink spiked with sleeping pills in Satish’s SUV as the trio headed towards Uttan. When Pandey fell unconscious, they strangled him with a rope and threw his body from the bridge in Bhiwandi.

Ankita has alleged that she was being subjected to sexual harassment by Pandey while she worked for him for more than two years, police said.