A Mumbai sessions court has sentenced caretaker Parvati Khaka and her boyfriend Singhasan Ekka to triple life imprisonment for murdering an elderly couple and robbing their home in Bandra West in 2018, while rejecting the prosecution’s plea for the death penalty.
Additional Sessions Judge VB Bohra sentenced both accused to life imprisonment for murdering Nanak Makhijani, 85, and Daya Makhijani, 81, and for voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery. The sentences will run concurrently. Khaka was also sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for theft by a servant, while Ekka received 10 years for house trespass.
The court said the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category required for imposing capital punishment. It noted that the prosecution case relied on circumstantial evidence and considered the accused persons’ conduct in jail and their scope for reformation.
The Makhijanis lived alone in a flat at Ekta Elite, Kokilkunj Co-operative Housing Society in Bandra West. Their sons and families lived abroad. Khaka had joined the household as a full-time caretaker only 15 days before the murders.
The couple were found dead on June 21, 2018, after the building watchman, Vimlesh Yadav, alerted informant Satish Bhagwat when a maid, Surekha Sable, received no response from the flat. Bhagwat, Yadav, Samranjan Monga and Sable went to the residence. Building sweeper Subhash Khetle entered through an open kitchen window and opened the main door.
Nanak and Daya were found on a bed with their hands and necks tied with an odhani. A blood-stained pillow was found near Daya’s legs. The cupboards were open and belongings had been scattered. Artificial, silver and gold ornaments valued at around Rs 10 lakh, along with Rs 9,000 in cash, were reported stolen.
Police arrested Khaka and Ekka at Nagpur railway station on June 22, 2018, while they were travelling towards Odisha on the Gitanjali Express. Jewellery and other valuables were recovered from them, along with two Dadar-Jharsuguda railway tickets issued at 5.19 am on June 21.
The court relied on witness testimony, CCTV footage, medical findings, recoveries and the conduct of the accused. Beauty parlour owner Sueyha Chin testified that Khaka had accompanied Daya to her salon on June 20, hours before the murders. Auto driver Lavkush Rajbhar identified Khaka and Ekka as the pair he had driven near Bandra bridge after they sought a ride to Dadar.
Public prosecutor Keshav Salunke presented evidence from 35 witnesses. The judge said the prosecution had established the “last scene theory” and rejected the defence claim that another person could have entered through the kitchen window.
Khaka told the court that she had left after learning that her mother was ill in Odisha and that the couple had permitted her to go, giving her Rs 2,000. Ekka raised a similar defence. The judge rejected their versions, noting that Khaka had summoned Ekka to Mumbai and enabled him to access the flat, and that neither accused had informed others about her departure.
