Goldsmith murdered by kin

Mumbai: The Dindoshi police cracked the murder case of the gold designer who was killed a few days ago, and arrested his relative who allegedly hacked him to death holding a grudge of provoking his wife against him over his frivolous habits. The accused had fled with gold ornaments and cash worth around Rs 15 lakh after committing the murder.

The officials said that the deceased had informed the accused’s wife that the latter was losing focus on his business leading it to a shutdown and also that he was getting involved with other women.

The duo had been having frequent fights over the same. In the wee hours of Saturday, too, the deceased Nitesh Soni and his relative Hemant Soni (28) got into an argument over the same reasons.

“The accused had dropped in at Nitesh’s residence at around 1 am and they started an argument. Hemant objected to him for passing on information about his failed business and other habits to his wife at their native  place in Rajasthan,” said Vinay Rathod, deputy commissioner of police (zone XI).

The officials said that the victim's wife was also at their native in Rajasthan to deliver their baby and hence there was nobody at home when the argument ensued. After quarrelling till wee hours, Hemant took a sharp object and pierced it through Nitesh’s temple near the eye leaving him bleeding profusely.

Preliminary investigation revealed about an internal dispute after they learnt that Hemant also had a gold unit that shut down leading to quarrel. The police tracked his phone and found that he had visited the neighbourhood around the time when the murder took place. The police arrested Hemant and during his interrogation, he spilled the beans.

He has been booked for murder and theft and has been remanded to police custody for further investigation in the case.