Cause Caution: Mentions of violence, homicide
At the morning of 23 October, 1967, a milkman on his standard rounds got here to ship milk on the place of dwelling of Muhamed Siddique Choonawala — a neighborhood businessman and managing director of M/S Automotive Mart — on the ‘Temple View’ development on Hughes Street in Gamdevi, Bombay [Mumbai].
In spite of knocking on his door repeatedly, there used to be no reaction. Busy along with his rounds, the milkman left the milk to a neighbour. After a while, Usman, the watchman of Choonawala’s M/S Automotive Mart, got here to ship milk bottles at his place of dwelling. As soon as once more, he rang the bell however no reaction used to be imminent. In the meantime, the prepare dinner Sayed Ahmed, who used to be slumbering within the commonplace passage, aroused from sleep and noticed smoke popping out of the home windows of the flat.
As Mumbai-based journalist, creator and native historian Dhaval Kulkarni notes in his fresh thread on X (Twitter), “The principle door of the flat used to be rather ajar and he went in with Usman. They noticed fireplace within the passage resulting in the kitchen. This hearth in newspapers and garments used to be doused the usage of buckets of water. As soon as the hearth subsided, they had been terrified to look human legs beneath the newspapers in a scorched situation. The watchman ran to the close by Gamdevi police station and knowledgeable PSI (Police Sub-Inspector) Shivaji Deshmukh, who used to be on responsibility.”
What adopted used to be a gory quadruple homicide case, the primary within the then Bombay, and a exceptional investigation led by way of Bombay Police [now Mumbai Police] CID deputy commissioner Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami, the daddy of mythical singer Usha Uthup.
Popularly referred to as the Bombay Police’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’, Vaidyanath Sami and his officials stuck the culprits of his horrific crime the usage of the laundry mark (tag) of burnt items of clothes discovered on the scene of this horrific crime.
Right here’s how they solved this example.
Discovering the laundry mark
Right here’s how Dhaval describes the crime scene, “Deshmukh and his crew rushed to the scene and noticed that the fuel pipe within the kitchen used to be unfastened. He therefore went to the kitchen and closed the fuel connection. He discovered 4 our bodies within the flat with a couple of stab wounds.”
“The our bodies were lined with newspapers and garments, and it gave the impression that an try used to be made to set fireplace to the our bodies and the flat as neatly by way of opening the fuel pipe. The bed room used to be ransacked, and money and jewels had been lacking,” he is going on so as to add.
The sufferers had been Choonawala, his spouse Roshan, four-year-old grandson Shajitkhan [ also spelled Sajid Khan], and their area assist Annie Fernandes. All 4 of the sufferers had been stabbed to demise.
In step with The Queen of Indian Pop: The Accepted Biography of Usha Uthup — written by way of Vikram Kumar Jha and translated by way of Srishti Jha, “[Mohammad Siddiqui] Chunawala used to be a large businessman and his homicide had put the Gamdevi Police Station in a deep surprise. Curfew used to be enforced within the space beneath the police station’s jurisdiction. In the long run, seeing no traits on this puzzling homicide case, the inspector of the Gamdevi Police Station known as [DCP] Vaidyanath Sami and communicated the gravity of the placement. He asked the latter to assist within the investigation.” [*both the ‘Choonawala’ and ‘Chunawala‘ spellings have been used to describe the businessman murdered in this case*]
Following this request, DCP Vaidyanath dispatched his officials to the scene.
The proof:
Quickly, officials of the Mumbai Police CID-Crime or the Crime department like inspector Vinayak Vakatkar, and sub-inspectors Tatyasaheb Goud and Ramchandra Dudhat arrived on the scene. They got here to understand that on yesterday, Choonawala had returned house from Radio Membership… percent.twitter.com/zQjVJqsQzd— Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳 (@dhavalkulkarni) January 10, 2024
Vinayak Vakatkar used to be a mythical officer within the Bombay Police crime department. His instances and investigations made it to the newspapers and the works of native crime writers. Vakatkar sooner or later retired as an assistant commissioner of police. PSI Tatyasaheb Gaud retired as an ACP. An ace investigator with the Bombay Police, he used to be additionally a prolific author in Marathi.
In organising the series of occasions previous the homicide, they discovered that at the day of the homicide, Choonawala had come again from the Radio Membership at Colaba along with his spouse and grandson round 9 pm, and about part an hour later, they’d their dinner. Then again, as they had been scanning the crime scene, the officials discovered one thing that stuck their consideration.
As Dhaval explains, “The officials discovered a blood-stained blouse beneath the mattress. It had the laundry mark AI Z with some letters prior to Z being minimize. Every other material discovered within the flat had the AI SBH laundry mark. Then again, all of the different garments present in the home had the J MSC laundry mark, making it glaring that the blouse and material belonged to the assailants.”
“Some fingerprints had been additionally detected on surfaces just like the fridge within the eating corridor. A blood-stained knife used to be additionally discovered. Then again, the fingerprints didn’t tally with the ones of the deceased or with the criminals within the data of the police,” he provides.
Catching the culprits
After finding the items of garments discovered on the crime scene, Inspector Vakatkar positioned 12 laundries within the town which used this laundry mark. On 24 October, the police after all zeroed in at the American Categorical laundry at Khetwadi and positioned its owner Shenolikar.
He promptly instructed the PSIs Goud and Dudhat that the ‘AI SBH’ and ‘AI Z’ laundry marks belonged to his laundry, and the 2 male shoppers whom they belonged to stayed in the similar locality.
The arrests:
At the identical night, the 2 accused Sayed Bakar Hussain and Sayed Ali Asad had been arrested at Khetwadi again street. The 2 confessed to having dedicated the crime for pecuniary acquire. That they had stolen money, gold and pearl embellishes and wrist watches value Rs 10,000.… percent.twitter.com/b2jZQOQMCr
— Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳 (@dhavalkulkarni) January 10, 2024
As Dhaval notes, “That they had stolen money, gold and pearl embellishes, and wristwatches value Rs 10,000. Their fingerprints tallied with the danger prints discovered on the scene of the crime. That they had discarded the blood-stained garments and worn the washed garments of Mr Choonawala.”
To unravel any crime, alternatively, the police want to determine a reason.
In step with the police, Hussain used to be Choonawala’s driving force and were fired from his place. Hussain believed that Choonawala nonetheless owed him dues for running extra time, and so forth. Choonawala argued that every one dues were settled. All over this argument, Hussain’s cousin Asad used to be additionally provide. The argument with Choonawala escalated and shortly the cousins dedicated the homicide.
“They [cousins] later minimize the dhobi mark from their blood-stained garments to hide their id, set fireplace to garments, newspapers, and so forth, and opened the fuel connection,” explains Dhaval.
For his or her crimes, Hussain and Asad had been sentenced to demise by way of a fundamental classes pass judgement on on 4 November 1968. In not up to two weeks, the police had nabbed the culprits and a courtroom discovered them in charge and sentenced them. This exceptional quadruple homicide case used to be some of the final instances of DCP Vaidyanath Sami’s illustrious profession.
A short lived be aware on DCP Vaidyanath Sami
All over his tenure within the Bombay Police, which ran for greater than 3 a long time, DCP Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami solved many mysteries in ruthless prison instances.
Apparently, alternatively, he had by no means imagined that he would sign up for the police pressure.
Born on 21 November, 1908, within the then Bombay, Vaidyanath got here from a wealthy lineage however humble beginnings. Even supposing he used to be a descendent of Sir Kumarapuram Sheshadri Iyer, a long-time Dewan of Mysore, his father Someshwar Iyer labored for a very long time on the Bombay Tram Corporate prior to shifting to the then Mysore the place he continued critical monetary difficulties.
To make stronger his circle of relatives, Vaidyanath went to seek out paintings in Bombay after graduating from St Joseph’s School in Bengaluru. He labored extraordinary jobs as a display puller for the Opera Area theatre and an insurance coverage agent prior to he joined the police pressure in 1931.
The turning level in his profession got here in 1939 when he used to be made a part of Bombay’s CID. This used to be achieved by way of senior officers within the police division who had been inspired by way of “his attentive and devoted paintings ethic”, consistent with the guide Jha cited previous on this article.
“He used to be related to the Bombay Police’s crime department for 28 years and retired as deputy commissioner against the tip of his profession. His symbol within the Bombay Police used to be that of an inconceivable and, but, clever officer,” notes Jha.
He used to be an investigative policeman within the truest sense. As Jha writes, “Whilst researching a case, Sami would steadily consult with the native tea retail outlets and salons on boulevard corners.”
“He believed that an investigation used to be like searching with deep endurance. One has to stay one’s 6th sense in an entire state of alertness. All over the search, he would additionally absolutely utilise Bombay Police’s Fingerprint Bureau and the Police Canine Squad. He positioned informers in nearly all of the colonies within the then Bombay, He would handiest relaxation as soon as he had sufficient proof towards the accused in order that they wouldn’t break out within the courtroom for the loss of it. Then again, he used to be towards the follow of third-degree torture of criminals as he discovered it slightly inhuman,” the guide provides.
Right through his profession, he solved many high-profile instances together with the Turf Soda Manufacturing unit homicide case, the then Bombay’s Central Financial institution theft, Lloyd Financial institution theft case, Kuldeep homicide case, and the Bombay Area theft case, among others.
He would in finding clues from probably the most sudden resources like within the Bombay Lloyds Financial institution theft case, which he solved with the assistance of a clue given by way of a schoolgirl or an unclaimed automobile parked on Mohammad Ali Street within the then Bombay’s Central Financial institution theft case.
He used to be really a Sherlock Holmes of his time.
(Edited by way of Pranita Bhat)
Pictures courtesy Mumbai Police: Urbs Prima in Indis (Pictures of the officials), Dhaval Kulkarni (Pictures of the development) and Deepak Rao (Pictures of the fingerprints, the Chunawala circle of relatives and the 2 accused) and The Queen of Indian Pop: The Accepted Biography of Usha Uthup by way of Vikas Jha (Photograph of Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami in a police uniform)
Resources:
Dhaval Kulkarni’s thread on X (previously referred to as Twitter)
‘The Queen of Indian Pop: The Accepted Biography of Usha Uthup’ by way of Vikas Kumar Jha, Translated by way of Srishti Jha; Printed by way of Penguin Ebury Press on 7 February 2022