HC refuses bail to salon employee accused of killing colleague

The Bombay High Court Friday rejected the bail plea of Khushi Shajwani, an employee of a salon, arrested for allegedly killing her colleague Kirti Vyas.

Justice P D Naik, while rejecting Shajwani's bail plea, observed there was prima facie evidence against her.

Shajwani, 42, and her partner Siddhesh Tamhankar, 28, also employed with B Blunt salon, were arrested in May last year, nearly two months after Vyas went missing on March 16 last year.

According to the prosecution, the duo was unhappy with Vyas after she admonished Tamhankar for not working properly.

The duo had claimed that they had met Vyas on the day she went missing near her house and offered her a lift till office. However, Vyas asked them to drop her at the Grant Road railway station in south Mumbai.

The prosecution, however, alleged that Tamhankar had strangulated Vyas in Shajwani's car and the duo disposed of the body later in a creek off suburban Wadala area. The body has still not been recovered.

In August last year, a sessions court had rejected Shajwani's bail plea following which she moved the high court.

Special public prosecutor Raja Thakare, while opposing the bail application, submitted that though the body has not been found, there is circumstantial evidence that shows Shajwani's involvement, including call records and CCTV footage of the day when Vyas went missing.