Man poisoned, strangled in hotel room, woman ‘close' to him held

Time of India

07-05-2025

Mumbai: A 44-year-old woman flew down from Jaipur to Mumbai and murdered a businessman who was related to her in a hotel room in Malad (east) three days ago, the police said on Wednesday. The woman used the man's phone to send texts to mislead his family members into believing that he had died by suicide. The motive with which the woman, Barkat Rathod, murdered the Mira Road resident, Imam Mansuri (47), has not been established yet.The woman, who was en route to Jaipur, was arrested the train reached Surat station, said officials of Dindoshi police station.The businessman resided at Mira Road with his wife and son. The woman too used to live in the twin city with her husband and children.The businessman and the woman were close, the police said, adding that when the woman's husband found out about their proximity, he separated from her, after which she moved to her parents' home in Jaipur. This had left her bitter, the police said.On Sunday, she took a flight for Mumbai carrying her mother's phone, leaving her own phone in Jaipur, indicating an attempt to not give away her whereabouts. She did not make any any call using her mother's phone.In Mumbai, she visited the businessman's store at Malad (east). Since he was not at the store, she waited for him to return.Later that day, the businessman's family members received WhatsApp messages from his number, stating that was going to end his life. The messages clarified that there were no relation between him and the woman (Rathod) and that they their reputation had been tarnished.His family set out to look for him. Eventually, they found his vehicle parked outside a hotel in Malad . The hotel staff confirmed that Mansuri and a burkha-clad woman had checked in. Two Aadhaar card copies given to the hotel as proof of identity were of Mansuri and his wife. "This came across as strange as the wife was not with him that day," an official said, adding that his body was found in room 106. An autopsy revealed that he had been poisoned and strangled with a rope. His phone was missing. CCTV footage showed a burkha-clad woman leaving the hotel around 3 pm.The police learnt from his relatives that Rathod was not at her parents' home in Jaipur. A police team supervised by DCP Smita Patil and senior inspector Ajay Aphale, and comprising assistant inspector Om Totavar, got down to tracing her whereabouts. They learnt that she had boarded a train from Mumbai, but hadn't reached Jaipur. With the help of the railway police, she was detained at Surat station. The police are interrogating her to establish the motive for the crime.