Cold-Blooded Mumbai Murder Plot Exposed as Elaborate Real Estate Fraud Case

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On the night of April 7, 2012, the affluent Lokhandwala neighborhood of Mumbai became the scene of a brutal crime that exposed a web of deception within the fringes of the Hindi film industry. According to an investigation by NDTV, the murder of Arun Tikku, an elderly man found dead in his apartment with multiple stab wounds and a computer cable tightened around his neck, was the culmination of a sophisticated plot involving identity theft, property fraud, and calculated manipulation.

The crime came to light when a witness, Harangad Singh Maini, alerted by the victim’s cries for help, confronted two men inside the apartment. While the suspects initially claimed they were merely settling a domestic dispute, their blood-stained clothing and erratic behavior prompted security guards to lock them inside the residence while police were summoned. The perpetrators, however, managed to escape through a bathroom window before authorities could secure the premises.

The investigation initially cast suspicion on the victim’s son, actor Anuj Tikku, whose phone was the last one used by the deceased. However, police soon traced Anuj to Chiplun, a town near Goa, where he was located alongside a man he identified as his friend, Karan Sood. It was during this interrogation that the younger Tikku learned of his father’s murder. Investigators subsequently discovered that “Karan Sood” was actually Vijay Palande, a convicted murderer with a history of violent crime.

Palande had successfully infiltrated Anuj Tikku’s life under a false identity, aided by an accomplice named Simran Sood—whose real name was Seema Dusanj. While Palande presented himself as a wealthy hotelier and Dusanj as his sister, the two were, in reality, a married couple. Anuj Tikku, who had trusted the pair through professional connections in the film industry, revealed that they had slowly gained his confidence, showing an increasing interest in his family’s assets and property.

Police determined that the original plan was to coerce Anuj into signing over his property before murdering him in Goa. However, the plan shifted when the victim’s father, Arun Tikku, arrived in Mumbai to audit the tenancy agreements for the family’s properties. Fearing exposure, the conspirators sent Anuj to Goa and proceeded to execute his father. Evidence later seized from a bank locker included a forged suicide note written in Anuj’s name, which police alleged was intended to cover up the planned murder of the younger Tikku. Anuj later testified that he had been drugged and forced to write the note under duress.

Crime journalist Vivek Agrawal, who covered the case, noted that Anuj Tikku’s isolation and his desperate struggle to find a foothold in the film industry made him an ideal target for predators. The investigation ultimately exonerated Anuj, who was treated as a state witness.

Vijay Palande was found guilty of the murder and remains incarcerated, alongside accomplices Dhananjay Shinde and Manoj Gajkosh. Seema Dusanj was released after serving a three-year sentence. The case gained further notoriety when it was revealed that Palande was also involved in the separate murder of aspiring film producer Karan Kakkar, who had similarly fallen victim to the group’s deceptive promises of success in Bollywood. Despite the convictions, the elder Tikku’s family continues to push for the death penalty for Palande, viewing the legal outcome as only a partial resolution to the trauma of the systematic betrayal.