A love triangle ended in a brutal murder at a five-star hotel in Guwahati on Monday, and was solved swiftly before the accused could fly half a thousand kilometres away to Kolkata.
Sandip Suresh Kambli, 42, was found dead last afternoon at the Azara hotel near Guwahati airport. The accused – Anjali Shaw, 25, and her boyfriend Rakesh Shaw, 27 – were to board a flight to Kolkata later in the night, but prompt police action led to their arrest before they could reach the airport.
Kambli, a car dealer from Pune, was first spotted by hotel staff lying on the floor of his room, bleeding profusely from his nose.
Anjali, who worked at a restaurant at the Kolkata airport, was in a relationship with Kambli, who she had befriended at the airport last year, said sources.
However, this led to complications since Anjali was already in a relationship with Rakesh, who had been pressurising her to marry him. What complicated the issue further was that the victim had intimate pictures with her on his phone, Anjali said during her interrogation.
This prompted the couple – Anjali and Rakesh – to devise a plan to confront Kambli over those photos. They had earlier planned to meet at the Kolkata airport, but Kambli moved it to Guwahati, where he booked a room in the five-star hotel.
The couple flew to Guwahati together but parted their ways on reaching Guwahati. Rakesh had even booked a room for himself in the same hotel without Kambli’s knowledge.
As per their plan, Anjali was joined by Kambli in the city and they checked in at the hotel together, the sources said. Meanwhile, Rakesh arrived separately.
During their meeting, Rakesh’s arrival enraged Kambli and a fight erupted between the two. The fight left Kambli injured, seeing which the couple fled. They also took away two mobile phones belonging to Kambli – which allegedly had their intimate photos.
A phone call from Rakesh later in the day alerted the hotel authorities and they informed the Guwahati city police. The cops promptly went through the hotel register, CCTV footage, and airport passengers’ list to zero in on the two suspects. Anjali and Rakesh were arrested near the hotel before they could board the 9:15 pm flight to Kolkata.
The case remains under investigation as the cops are trying to piece together the events that led to their fight.
