Santacruz bizman murder case: Court grants bail to Kavita Shah

MUMBAI: The sessions Court on Wednesday granted bail to Kavita Shah, 46, arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch for allegedly murdering her husband, Kamlakant Shah, a Santacruz-based textile businessman. This was the second bail application filed by Kavita after her first plea was rejected by the same court in March this year.
Kavita had allegedly conspired with her lover Hitesh Jain to poison Shah’s food. The two were in a relationship for more than a decade, as per the police, and were planning to get married. During investigation, it was found that Shah was being fed consistent doses of arsenic through his meals which led to deterioration of his health. He passed away at the Bombay Hospital on September 19, 2022. After Shah’s death, the hospital authorities informed the Santacruz police, who then recorded the statement of Shah’s sister Kavita Lalwani, who had suspected foul play in her brother’s murder.
Shah and Kavita married in 2002 and have two children – a 20-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son. Hitesh was Shah’s friend and was in the garment business like him. Police said that Shah and Kavita used to have frequent fights due to her relationship with Hitesh.
The medical report released by the Bombay Hospital had mentioned that traces of thallium and arsenic were found in Shah’s body. Kavita’s mother-in-law Sarladevi had also passed away on August 13 from similar health issues.
In the arguments for the first bail application, made in March this year, the prosecution had submitted that initially Kavita used to cook for herself and her daughter only, but eventually she started cooking for the whole family and began serving food to her husband. At that time, the court had found substance in the prosecution case that Shah’s death was due to the presence of heavy metal substance found in the body.