Mumbai: Weeks before she died, 24-year-old anchor-cum-compere Arpita Tiwari had discussed ‘difficulties in her relationship with her boyfriend Pankaj Jadhav (30) with her family.
Tiwari’s sister Shweta said, “Our family had supported her in the decision, but Arpita herself was in two minds considering their four-and-a-half-year relationship.” Based on the revelation, the police suspects murder, and is verifying the role of two detained men. Shweta told this paper, “All was not well between Arpita and Pankaj for the last few weeks, and she was seriously considering calling off the relationship but was emotionally attached to him given the fact that they were together for a long time.”
“Arpita had discussed a few problems with us, and as a family we stood by her decision. We suspect she was sexually assaulted, and we request the police to probe all angles of the case.” Arpita’s body was found on the second-floor duct of Malwani’s Manavsthal residential building early on Monday. She had gone with Pankaj to his friends’ flat, which is located in the building on 15th floor, for a party the night before. According to the building’s watchman, Arpita and Pankaj seemed ‘happy’ when entering the building’s premises on Sunday night.
The Malvani police is still awaiting call data records of Arpita’s cell phone, which was found lying in the living room of the flat. The police has ruled out the possibility of suicide after the reconstruction of the sequence of events as well as the fact that no suicide note was recovered from the spot.
Sources said that during questioning, Amit Kumar, the other friend detained in the matter, had said, “A few hours before we all went to sleep, Pankaj and Arpita were seen fighting in the bedroom, but both of them then closed the doors of the room after realising they were creating a scene. Soon after that I dozed off and woke up the next day only to find her missing.”
An officer told this paper on the condition of anonymity that Pankaj is the prime suspect, considering all the allegations he is facing
