Furqan Shaikh (left picture), the vendor who was detained on 12th August for interrogation in the murder case of art director Krishnendu Chowdhury (right photograph), was arrested for allegedly killing him and was sent to police custody for 10 days. Two of his accomplices, who helped Furqan wrap up the body in a bedsheet and throw it off the Khanivade bridge at Virar in Thane district, are still at large.
Krishnendu, who used to get a lot of his work of set erection done by Furqan, went to him on 7th August to demand the Rs. 85,000 he owed the art director. There was a heated exchange between the two and then, in a fit of rage, Furqan allegedly stabbed him with a knife on his neck and abdomen. His workers helped him wrap the body in a bedsheet and after two hours, they headed to the Bombay-Ahmedabad national highway in Shaikh’s car with the body. The police said, the accused threw the body off the bridge. It was found in a nullah at Virar two days later, on 9th.
After the job was done, Furqan asked his employees to leave for their native place in U.P. and he returned to his workshop. When Krishnendu could not be traced and his cell phone was not reachable, his friends telephoned Furqan on 8th. Sensing that he could become a suspect, Furqan filed a missing person’s complaint with the police. His statements to the police were inconsistent when he was picked up by them for interrogation on 12th. He was then arrested as the prime suspect in the murder case.