Palande, three others charge-sheeted in Tikku murder case

Mumbai, July 6 (IANS) The Mumbai police Crime Branch Friday filed a charge-sheet against Vijay Palande and three others in the murder of Delhi-based businessman Arun Kumar Tikku, a senior official said.

Father of small time actor Anuj Tikku, Arun Kumar was allegedly murdered by Palande and his accomplices Dhananjay Shinde, Manoj Gajkosh and small-time model Simran Sood.

In the 630-page charge-sheet, the police have charged them with criminal conspiracy and murder. The Crime Branch claimed that Tikku was murdered so that Palande could get his hands on a flat owned by his son.

In addition to the charge-sheet, over 1,000 pages of the relevant call data records have also been added.

Palande, Shinde and Gajkosh, alleged to be former associates of gangster Santosh Shetty, were arrested April 10 in connection with the murder following which Palande was also accused of the murder of aspiring film producer Karan Kakkad.

According to the police, Palande, during interrogation in the Tikku murder case, confessed that he killed Kakkad in May and dumped his body on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Police later recovered decomposed body parts of Kakkad from forests in Chiplun near Mumbai.