In a rare criminal trial, a Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday sentenced two people to life imprisonment for the murder of Kirti Vyas, a finance manager at BBlunt salon in Mumbai, who went missing six years ago and whose body was never found.
Vyas’ co-workers, Siddhesh Shantaram Tamhankar and a female colleague, were found guilty of murder, kidnapping for murder, wrongful restraint, and destruction of evidence, among other charges.
The order was passed by Sessions Judge M.G. Deshpande on Monday. During the ruling, Tamhankar and the female colleague asked for leniency, citing no prior criminal records and family responsibilities. The female colleague argued there was no evidence against her and that the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
Special Public Prosecutor A.M. Chimalkar argued the crime was committed with the “coolest of minds” and that Vyas, a chartered accountant, was the financial pillar of her family, The Indian Express reported.
About the case
Kirti Vyas, a resident of Grant Road in Mumbai, disappeared on 16 March 2018. After she failed to reach her office and both her phones were off, her sister reported her missing.
Nearly two months later, police suspected two of her colleagues were behind her disappearance. Tamhankar, who was Vyas’ junior and an account executive, and a female colleague, an academy manager at BBlunt in Andheri, were implicated in the case.
The prosecution argued that Tamhankar and the woman were having an affair. Vyas, unhappy with Tamhankar’s performance, planned to fire him and had given him notice. On March 16, which was supposed to be Tamhankar’s last working day, the couple allegedly killed Vyas.
Though her body was never found, the prosecution claimed the colleagues killed her in a moving car after picking her up from her home that morning. The accused denied the allegations, claiming they neither picked her up nor caused her disappearance.
The police filed a nearly 962-page chargesheet, including statements from Vyas’s family, colleagues, and experts. The prosecution relied on blood traces found in the female accused’s car, CCTV footage, and the accused’s call records. They argued the motive was Vyas’s plan to fire Tamhankar and her knowledge of the affair.
The trial, which began in 2019, continued despite the absence of Vyas’s body. The defence questioned the DNA evidence and the timing of the bloodstains’ discovery, as the car had been inspected twice before by the police.
The female colleague, granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2021 due to prolonged incarceration and her gender, was taken back into custody on Monday after her conviction. Tamhankar remained in jail throughout the trial.
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