Anchor's murder: Police make first arrest

A month after anchor Arpita Tiwari's 'mystery death' after a fall from a suburban skyscraper, the Mumbai Police arrested one person and charged him with murder here on Monday.

The police nabbed Amit Kumar Hazra, a friend of Arpita's boyfriend Pankaj Jadhav and in whose (Hazra's) rented home a party was on at the time of the incident on December 11.

In what was earlier suspected to be a suicide case, Arpita fell from the 15th floor flat when both Hazra and Jadhav, besides a male domestic help, were present on the premises.

Hazra was produced before a Mumbai court and remanded to police custody till January 20, said Senior Police Inspector Deepak S. Phatangre.

According to Phatangre, the investigators were alerted after a polygraphy (lie detector) test of Hazra when he made several statements contradicting his earlier version. He was arrested based on circumstantial evidence.

However, he added that the police probe was still on and Jadhav (Arpita's boyfriend) had not been given a clean chit yet.

Hazra, who had rented the flat in the posh residential tower, regularly invited his friends for partying. On December 10, the night before the tragedy, both Arpita and Jadhav visited his home.

Arpita was a known anchor, hostess, model and glamour personality and her family had insisted from day one that they suspected foul play in her death.

According to Hazra's statements with the police, Arpita had allegedly locked herself inside the bathroom. When she didn't come out for long, Jadhav unlocked the door, found the bathroom window open and her body in the duct area on the second floor below.

The autopsy concluded that injuries to her body were consistent with a fall from a great height but it was unclear whether she jumped, fell accidentally or was pushed.

Phatangre did not rule out further arrests in the case.

--IANS

qn/mr