Mumbai crime: Wife, son thrash man, throw him off 7th floor for refusing to pay fees

S K Seshadri, the victim

A 53-year-old central government employee was allegedly thrown off his seventh-floor flat by his wife and son in Andheri. The police said Santana Krishnan Seshadri, who worked as an assistant general manager at Small Industries Development Bank Of India (SIDBI), was killed after he refused to fund his son's higher studies in Canada. The mother-son duo had first told the cops that he died by suicide.

The family lives in one of the SIDBI officers' quarters on Veera Desai Road in Andheri West. The police said Seshadri's son Arvind, 26, completed his engineering two years ago and wanted to go abroad for higher studies. Arvind and his mother Jaisheela, 52, often had arguments with the victim over his studies in Canada. On Thursday night, they decided to kill him after a fight over money, said an officer from Amboli police station.

Investigating officer Abdul Rauf Shaikh told mid-day, "Around 4 am, the mother and son began thrashing Seshadri, who was in sleep, and tried to throttle him. The two banged his head on the edge of a wooden bed five to six times and cut a vein on his hand. They wanted to tell the police that Seshadri killed himself."

The building that the Seshadris live in. Pics/Shirish Vaktania

However, the two changed their plan after they realised that Seshadri had bruises all over his body due to the brutal beating. "The mother and son threw Seshadri from their 7th-floor balcony. When they slashed his vein, blood squirted to the ceiling. They cleaned the bloodstains from the house, put their own blood-stained clothes into the washing machine and fully covered it," said Shaikh.

The society guard was alerted to the sound of the fall. He rushed to Seshadri's flat and informed them about his body lying on the ground. Shaikh said they immediately sensed something was wrong when they reached the flat.

"We were told Seshadri jumped from the balcony when the mother and son were sleeping. But the house was in a mess. The clothes and bed sheets were not in proper condition. Asked about the cut on Seshadri's hand, they said he perhaps tried to kill himself that way first and later jumped off the balcony. As we questioned them repeatedly, they revealed the real story," said PI Shaikh.

The SIDBI officers' quarters in Andheri West where Seshadri was allegedly killed. Pic/Shirish Vaktania

Another officer said Jaisheela had repeatedly tried to persuade Seshadri to give money for Arvind's education but in vain. "Seshadri was transferred from Chennai to Mumbai two years ago. His wife says he had tried to commit suicide twice there. Maybe that's why she and her son thought of giving the murder the suicide angle. But we're probing into the claims."

The security guard told mid-day that he heard a loud thud early in the morning. "I rushed to the spot and found Sheshadri lying on the ground. I informed the society's secretary and chairman and they called the police. We initially thought he had committed suicide, but what we learnt later was shocking."

A resident of SIDBI quarters said on the condition of anonymity, "Sheshadri was a very good man but would always save money. He never spent money at any place. His wife and son were fed up with him over this. It was shocking to learn in the morning that he was dead as he didn't seem depressed at all."