Mumbai: ‘Tardeo murder was an inside job gone wrong’

The Tardeo police investigating the Sunday morning robbery and murder have nabbed a relative of the victimsmdasha cousin of theirrsquo elder daughterinlaw Sumit Tatwal the cousin has emerged as the key conspirator and the intention was to rob the couple of unbilled jewellery according to sources With his arrest involvement of other family members may also come under scanner they addedThree masked men barged into the thirdfloor flat of the couple in Yusuf Manzil society at Tardeo in Mumbai Central West around 7 am on Sunday Madanmohan Agarwal 75 was heading out for his morning walk when he found the men standing at his doorThe accused were standing outside when Madanmohan Agrawal opened the door yellow to go on his morning walkThey pushed him inside beat them up tied their hands and legs with rope and wrapped their entire faces with cello tape leaving them gasping for air according to cops Madanmohanrsquos 69yearold wife Surekha Agarwal died of suffocation while his jogger friends managed to save him in timeFor unbilled jewelleryThe Tardeo police said two of the three robbers have been detained in Rajasthan All three robbers are residents of Rajasthan they addedThe trio looted the Agrawals whose flat is on the third floor of Yusuf Manzil in Tardeo on Sunday PicsShadab KhanDuring the investigation police learnt about the involvement of Tatwal 37 Prima facie the motive appears to be unbilled jewellery in possession of the couple at their flat the sources saidAccording to police sources Tatwal a resident of Malad worked at the Prabhadevi branch of the imitation jewellery store owned by Madanmohan Agarwal He knew about the unbilled jewellery because of his employment for the past few months they addedSurekha Agrawal the deceasedldquoThe investigation has revealed that the accused were hired by Tatwal The trio had transferred some money to Tatwalrsquos bank account after robbing the elderly couplerdquo an officer privy to the investigation told middayTo record statementsNow the police will record the statement of close family members of the Agarwals to check whether anyone else was involved in the crime the sources said The chain of event leading to the robbery and the death of Surekha is yet to be established they addedTwo of the three accused carrying stolen items flee the society on SundayldquoWe have secured eight days of Tatwalrsquos custody from the court and further investigation is underwayrdquo Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 03 Akbar Pathan saidWorth of lootDuring the course of investigation we have found that estimated value of the robbed valuables is most likely Rs 1 crore sources said Madanmohan after the incident had told the police that the accused took two gold chains a wrist watch and Rs 1500 in cash off of him and his wifeYusuf Manzil the society where the robbery happened on Sunday morning in Tradeo PicShadab KhanldquoThe complainant Madanmohan is busy with the last rites of his wife He has said that he will share the details of jewellery or other valuables stolen by the robbers from their lockerrdquo an officer from Tardeo police station saidMeanwhile police said a search is underway to find the third robber The three robbers were captured in the CCTV cameras of the society entering and fleeing the house They were wearing caps and carrying bags with stolen gold cash and other valuables7amTime on Sunday robbers barged into couplersquos flat8daysPolice custody of Sumit Tatwal the relativeRs 1crLikely amount of the robbed valuables as per cops