Mumbai: Drug peddler confesses to killing actress over dues of Rs 6,000

MUMBAI: Model-actor Kritika Chaudhary (27) was allegedly killed for not paying Rs 6,000 for the drugs (probably methamphetamine or Meow-Meow) which she bought last year in July from one of the two accused arrested on Monday. Amboli police arrested the duo--Shakeel Khan (33) and his accomplice Basu Das (40)--after they were identified on Friday by a witness. Police plan to add sections of robbery in the FIR after the duo confessed to stealing gold from Kritika's body.
The crime came to light when residents alerted police after a foul odour emanated from Kritika's fifth floor flat in Shree Bhairavnath SRA Society, Andheri (West), on June 12. The autopsy report showed a head injury below the left side of the ear. Sub-inspector Shrikant Jadhav and team entered the flat using a duplicate key and found her body on the bed, covered with a blanket. Police also recovered a blood-stained brass knuckle used to attack her on the head.
Investigators started collecting information on drug peddlers after a packet of white powder was found near the body. CCTV footage recovered from a temple opposite the building showed Khan and Das leaving the building in the wee hours of June 8, but the image was too grainy . However, a witness who knew Khan identified him from the footage. Khan and Das were arrested from their hideouts at Panvel and Govandi respectively and confessed to committing the offence.
Khan claimed he didn't intend to kill Kritika but the matter went out of hand when he and Das went to her flat to claim his dues for drugs he supplied to her last July.
After spotting the two men walking out on CCTV, deputy commissioner of police (zone IX) Paramjit Singh Dahiya formed a team--assistant commissioner of police Arun Chavan, Amboli senior inspector Bharat Gaikwad, inspectors Uday Rajeshirke, Nandkishore Gophale, assistant inspectors Gajanan Jogdande, Daya Nayak and staff--which kept a watch on Khan. Their doubts were confirmed when he left his Nallasopara house and went into hiding in Malwani and later to Panvel on learning police were on his trail. The duo was produced before the Andheri court on Monday and sent to seven days in police custody.