Accused used chloroform on the victim, later strangulated her; For 20 days her body lay concealed in an adjacent building
In a shocking incident, a three-and-a-half-year old girl was allegedly kidnapped for a ransom of Rs one crore and later murdered by two 17-year-olds near Two Tank Junction in the city.
While the incident took place on December 5, the body of the girl child was recovered from near her house on Sunday after the JJ Marg police arrested the accused on Christmas eve.
The main accused and the family of the victim, Zumeda Khan, were all residents of Sharbatwala building on Duncen Road. According to the police, Zumeda was playing on the verandah of her house on the first floor, when she was kidnapped. A neighbour, on condition of anonymity, said, "The accused, though a short-tempered person, was playsome with the girl. The girl was very jovial and mingled with all the residents."
The victim was the youngest among the four siblings. Said her 16-year-old sister: "My father was at work and my mother and younger brother had gone downstairs. I was left with another sister and Zumeda was outside since 8 pm. When my mother returned at 8:30 pm, we started looking for her, but couldn't find her anywhere. We soon informed our father, who lodged a complaint with the police."
Both the accused are first-year science students with Siddharth College, Fort. They used chloroform to make the girl unconscious and later strangulated her with the wire of a mobile phone charger. "Due to excess use of chloroform, the girl was bleeding from her nose. The body was found on the tin roof of the adjacent building. It was wrapped in plastic and decomposed."
According to Dilip Shinde, Senior Police Inspector of JJ Marg station, "The accused duo has admitted to committing the crime for ransom. Though initially they demanded Rs 1 crore, they later scaled down the figure to Rs 28 lakh as sought by the victim's father." He added that the accused made calls from different numbers, using stolen sim cards.
"Tracking these numbers, we traced them to a nearby building. Also, CCTV footage from a shop on the ground floor showed the girl being taken out of the building," the officer said, explaining how the culprits were nabbed.
According to victim's father, Mumtaaz Khan, 38, the parents of the accused "definitely knew what their son had done". "On the very night, his father told me to go to Mahim Darga and pray. I am certain that they made use of our absence here to conceal my daughter's body. I have also learnt that the accused used to take drugs."
The accused have been booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence).
HOW SAFE IS MUMBAI?
Kidnap cases of minor girls in last two years
661 till October 2016
403 till October 2015
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