Murder accused Palande instructed accomplice Simran Sood to seduce Kakkad and extract information about his financial dealings

The Mumbai police investigating the murder case of aspiring film producer Karan Kakkad have stumbled upon the fact that the victim was a well-known name in the bookie world, and often used his accomplice, small- time actress and model Simran Sood, as bait to lure potential clients, oblivious to the fact that the femme fatale was in turn providing information about him to Vijay Palande and helping the criminal plot his murder.

Police sources have revealed that Simran had ingratiated herself with Kakkad only to extract information from him about his alleged match-fixing deals and the profits he made from them. She would carefully document all of Kakkad's dealings.

According to the police, Simran had informed Palande about the details of Kakkad's dealings, and the large amounts of cash flowing in and out of his accounts. This, of course, provided sufficient motive for Palande to plan Kakkad's murder.

"Kakkad had been dealing with a few bookies and betting large amounts of money on matches. We have learnt that the bookies knew him by the name of Prince," said Pratap Dighavkar, DCP (zone IX).

Cops have also learnt that Palande had taken a loan of Rs 15 lakh from Kakkad, on the pretext of helping out a friend in need.

In February, Simran learnt that Kakkad had nailed a deal which added crores to his coffers. Keen on acquiring the whole amount, Palande started hatching plans for the murder.

At one point, Kakkad had taken Simran to Delhi to use her as bait and crack a deal with a builder. The venture was successful.

"Thanks to Simran, Palande knew that Kakkad would have at least Rs 4-5 lakh stashed in his car at any given point, so he planned to take hold of Kakkad's BMW," said an officer from the Crime Branch.

Cops also revealed that Kakkad would frequently liaise with several other small-time models. The police will now investigate if Kakkad had been using them too as bait for his various dubious deals.

Both Palande and Simran, along with two other accomplices Manoj Jadhav and Ganesh Shinde, are in police custody.