Mumbai: 11-yr-old murder: Man's wife, 2 others held

Eleven years ago, the police came across a case wherein a mutilated body was found in Nagpada area. The body's head was missing. A decade later, what surfaced was no less than a Bollywood script.

On May 14, 2006, an unattended bag caught attention of residents of the Mastan Talao area of Nagpada. When they informed JJ Marg police about it, policemen were taken aback to discover a body with its hands and legs mutilated. A murder case against unknown person(s) was then registered. With no leads, the case file began gathering dust.

"Recently, on a tip-off from our informants, we nabbed three persons — Firasat Ali Shah, 48, Irshad Ali Shaih, 43 and Bansiben Kisan Kharwa, 60 on Wednesday from the Do Tanki area at JJ Marg," said Manojkumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I.

"Their questioning revealed that the deceased person was Bansiben's husband Kisan Kharwa. Kharwa and his friends Firasat and Irshad were into the business of taking old clothes from people and giving them utensils in return," he added.

Senior Police Inspector Sukhlal Varpe stated Kisan would often beat up his wife after drinking, and this prompted her to hatch a conspiracy to eliminate him. "Bansiben gave a supari of Rs 2 lakh to Firasat and Irshad and told them to eliminate her husband and leave no traces behind."

A night before the body was found, Firasat and Irshad invited Kisan to their Nagpada residence for a dinner, gave him food laced with sedative and murdered him, police alleged.

"They chopped off Kisan's hands, legs and beheaded him. They then packed the mutilated body in a bag and dumped it near Mastan Talao next morning. Kisan's head was not found in the bag. The duo claimed to have disposed it at some other place which they do not remember now," said another officer.

Bansiben had registered her husband's missing complaint at Nagpada police station.

Bansiben got Rs 2 lakh from the life insurance policy of her husband and her husband's Nagpada home where she raised her five children.

Firasat has a criminal history and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court in 2000 in a murder case. After being in the jail for five years, he had filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court against the sentence which was later dismissed in 2016. Although Firasat was directed by the court to surrender himself before the jail, he remained absconded.

Custodies of the arrested persons have been given to JJ Marg police for further probe.