Christopher Pereira, a 24-year-old, resident of Cosma Colony, Bandra west has been arrested for the alleged murder of his maternal grandmother Rosy Ganesh Rao, 80-year-old, by the Bandra police on October 13, 2020.
The Bandra police have booked Pereira for allegedly murdering his grandmother as his grandmother’s head was found separated from her torso in the same room where Pereira was present. Padmakar Devre, police inspector, Bandra police, handling the case, said, “We arrested Christopher Pereira immediately when we reached the murder spot on October 13. We have charged him with Section 302 (Murder) in The Indian Penal Code for allegedly murdering his grandmother. Her head was found separated from the torso. We are continuing further investigation to find out why he committed the crime and further details.”
Abigail Dias, 31-year-old, who is Pereira’s cousin sister (Christopher’s mother’s twin sister’s daughter), was the first person to whom Pereira admitted having murdered his grandmother. Dias said, “Christopher had returned from a rehabilitation centre in Thane on Monday, October 12 in the evening. I picked him up and brought him to our maternal home at Cosma Colony, Bandra on October 12. He seemed normal and okay. I ordered fried rice for him around 8 pm for dinner. After eating food, he was watching television in the same room where the grandmother was present too.”
Dias said, “We have three floors in our house where each floor has one room. My two children, husband and I live in the room on the top floor. Chris’ room is on the middle floor and grandmother used to live in the room on the ground floor. But, he used to sleep on the ground floor room where the grandmother lived. I told him to finish eating food and sleep. I told him not to close the door because I had to come down to fill water.”
“When I came down at 11.30 pm to fill water, I started banging the door but he was not opening the door. On hearing the door banging noise, my husband came down from the top floor enquiring what was happening. My grandmother used to take tablets and sleep because she was old.”
“When he did not open the door, I thought maybe both of them were sleeping because Christopher was tired as he had come home after so long and my grandmother is old. So, I stopped banging the door thinking they both might be asleep. I thought it is okay if I do not fill water for one day instead of waking them up from their sleep.”
“But I could hear the water noise so I tried calling Christopher by his name several times but he did not respond. So then I sat down chatting till almost 1 am with the neighbouring four ladies just outside our house and then I went up to my room on the top floor and slept because it was late and I could not even fill water.”
Then at 10.30 am the following morning (Tuesday, October 13), Pereira’s dad came from Goa to see Chris. Dias said, “My husband Pravin Maiti went to pick him up till Mount Mary steps. His father banged the door but he did not open the door. I came down and banged the door several times in the morning but he did not open at first.”
“Then I banged the door again, after which he opened the door and stared at me with red eyes. I asked him where is Nana (grandmother) and, I told him to open the door.
He looked at me and said, “I murdered her.” I said, What, he said, “I murdered her, mere haath se khoon ho gaya.”
“I panicked and I called my husband and told him to lock the door of the room. Chris was inside the room. I started crying and called my neighbours and immediately informed the police. When the police arrived, they told me to enter the room to see what had happened.”
Dias said, “Christopher had slit our grandmother’s neck and kept her head on the bed. Her remaining body was on the floor. Her chest was ripped open, her breasts were removed and her ribs could be seen. There was blood spread on the floor in the room. She was fully naked.”
Pravin Maiti, husband of Abigail, said, “When I entered the room after the police arrived, I saw that body parts were kept in a plastic bag and kept in the freezer in the refrigerator in the room. The body was dry and yellow which indicated that the murder was not done early morning by 4 or 5 am maybe, it was done the previous night. He stayed the whole night in the same room until 10.30 am the next morning till he opened the door.”
When the police arrested Christopher, Abigail Dias said, “He was smiling.”
Christopher’s father, 63-year-old, said, “When I came home from Goa on Tuesday morning and Chris was not opening the door I told Abigail to break the door. Later when I saw the police take him, he was smiling at me.”
His father added, “I cannot understand what happened that night between him and his grandmother. I cannot understand why he did such a terrible thing. I cannot understand what went wrong. I do not know. For the first time, I saw something like this in my life.”
Christopher, who is the only son of his parents, was at Trucare Trust Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Thane west due to his alcohol and drug problem since the last one and a half years. Christopher’s father, who is retired now, has been working in Kuwait for the last 40 years and his mother works in Israel.
Christopher’s father who was stuck in his Goa house since the last few months due to lockdown, said, “I do not know why he did such a thing to his grandmother who loved him and cared for him since he was a child. Abigail and his grandmother have brought him up since he was born because my wife and I have been working abroad. I came from Goa to Mumbai by bus to visit my son because I was excited to meet Chris. I was going to buy him a new mobile phone because he does not have a phone.”
His father added, “I used to give him everything he wanted. I used to often give him money to eat food. I even took him to Kuwait and he lived with me for one and a half years. I knew about his alcohol and drug problem but I never hit him or pressurised him for anything. He stole money from me once but I used to always let it go thinking he is small and he will understand one day. I never said no to him for anything. He is my only son, I cannot understand why he did what he did.”
Abigail Dias said, “I brought up Christopher since he was born because his parents were working abroad. He was into alcohol and drugs but he seemed like a normal boy. He was aggressive and used to get angry at times. He used to get into fights. I had taken him to a psychologist a few years back at Holy Family Hospital, Bandra. There was no sign of mental illness or disorder. We used to keep checking on him by seeing the live footage of him playing or watching television at the rehab centre.”
Dias adds, “He was a very good football and hockey player. He was a troublemaker because he would get into fights and get aggressive but he was smart and clever. He seemed quite normal on Monday when he came back from the rehab centre. I had never thought he would do such a terrible thing.”
Christopher studied at St. Andrew’s School, Bandra till Class 10 and completed his private 12th standard from NIOS board. After which he pursued a six-month bartending course at Cocktails and Dreams, Khar. A friend of Christopher who is also his neighbour said, “Chris and I used to work for small events long back after we did our bartending course. But once he started getting into drugs and alcohol, I kept my distance from him. I stopped chilling or meeting him often. I met him in the evening on the day he returned from rehab because his sister asked me to meet him as he had come after a long time.”
“When I met him, he seemed quite different. I asked him how he was and he asked me how I was and that is it. We did not talk much. I also wondered why did the rehab centre send him home if he was not doing well or was still going through problems. I did not hear any noise in the night. It is quite shocking to know what happened. I have not been able to sleep in the night since the incident.”
According to the members present in the house and nearby residents, nobody heard any noise in the night. Abigail Dias said, “I was sleeping with my kids and my husband in the room on the top floor but I did not hear any noise in the night.” Pravin Maiti said, “I did not hear any sound of struggle or screams.” A nearby resident said, “We did not hear any sound and did not know anything that happened until Tuesday morning.”
The Bandra police has identified a house knife as the murder weapon. Devre, police inspector, said, “We have kept Christopher Pereira in police custody and are conducting an investigation to find out evidence, proof and further details. We will keep him in police custody till October 22 and then produce him at Bandra east court for further process.” Following the post-mortem of Rosy Ganesh Rao (grandmother) conducted at Cooper Hospital, Juhu, the cause of death has been stated as “Shock and haemorrhage as a result of Decapitation sustained due to assault (allegedly homicidal).” The funeral took place on October 15 at St Francis of Assisi Church, Bandra West.
