Panvel murder: 'Riyaz planned Urvashi’s murder, took her brother to cops, too'

Riyaz Khan and Urvashi Vaishnav

Riyaz Khan, accused of killing Urvashi Vaishnav, planned the murder after attending a wedding at her hometown in Rajasthan, said cops. Police officers said that after returning from the wedding on December 11, Vaishnav kept pressuring Khan to marry her, hence Khan roped in his friend Imran Sheikh and murdered her on December 13. To avoid raising suspicion, he kept in touch with her family and even accompanied her brother when he went to file a missing complaint with Nerul police on December 14.

The case came to light after Panvel cops recovered the body of a woman from the Gadhi river in Panvel. Police officers identified the woman as Vaishnav, 28, with the help of her sandal. Thereafter, cops arrested Khan and Sheikh for the murder. A police officer privy to the investigation said, "Riyaz, the prime accused, knew Urvashi's family and were in touch. He used to pick up Urvashi from the Koparkhairane home and drop her to Sana bar, where she worked. He had picked her up in her own car on December 13 too."

After committing the murder and dumping her body, Khan parked Vaishnav's car near her residence. When Vaishnav's brother asked him where she was, Khan said that she had gone back to the bar. As she did not return home and her phone was switched off the next day, the brother approached the Nerul police. Khan was accompanying him at the time.

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"The Nerul police registered a missing complaint and started a probe. Khan told the investigators that he had dropped Vaishnav to the bar. When cops inquired with some auto drivers in the area, one of them said he had dropped her to Ulwe on the night of December 13. The auto driver's statement led cops to focus on it instead of suspecting Khan," said another cop, adding, "Her family knew they were together and frequently visited her, so nobody suspected him."

Khan remained in constant touch with Vaishnav's family and expressed concerns over her disappearance. "He would take regular updates from the family about the police's progress. However, the cops nabbed him directly," said the officer.