A vendor based at Malad in Bombay and having a workshop at Madh was detained by the Virar (Thane district) police on 12th August for questioning in the murder case of art director Krishnendu Chowdhury whose body was found in a nullah at Virar on 9th August. The vendor was the last person whom the art director had met before he went missing on 7th August.
Krishnendu had gone to meet the vendor at around 8.30 p.m. on 7th and was with him for around 30 minutes. His cell phone was unreachable an hour after that. The vendor reportedly owed Krishnendu Rs. 85,000. According to the police, Krishnendu and the vendor had a heated argument on 7th with regards to the money the latter owed the former.
The vendor was picked up for interrogation from his Malad residence. The police said, his statements were inconsistent. The vendor told the police that Krishnendu spoke to various persons on his cell phone during the 30 minutes the two of them were together. He also added that one of the calls on his phone was from a woman. However, the Call Data Records (CDRs) of Krishnendu’s phone showed that he did not speak to anyone except his own staff members. There are two more suspects in the murder case.
While a search had been launched for Chowdhury, the vendor filed a missing person’s complaint with the police to whom he also submitted CCTV footage of Krishnendu leaving his workshop on 7th.
Krishnendu’s body was found in a nullah at Virar. It was wrapped in a bedsheet and had stab wounds on his neck and abdomen. He had done the art direction of the 2015 film Island City.