Indore : The police arrested a man in connection with the brutal murder of a transgender within 24 hours on Wednesday. The accused had contacted the deceased through the Internet and called them to meet him at his home. After coming to know that they were transgender, the accused refused to give them any money and told them to go away.
An altercation ensued and the accused strangled the transgender with a towel and cut the body using a sharp-edged weapon. He dumped the lower portion of the body near MR-10 Road in order to hide the identity of the deceased. The upper torso was kept at home in a box.
DCP (Zone-2) Sampat Upadhyay said the deceased was identified as Zoya, alias Mohsin, a resident of the Chandan Nagar area of the city. The lower portion of their body was recovered from the bushes near Star Square on MR-10 Road on Tuesday morning. Since it was only half the torso, it was a challenge for the police to identify the deceased. On the instructions of commissioner of police H Mishra, a team was constituted to identify the deceased and the killer.
CCTVs 500 metres away from spot checked
The police team started an investigation and checked the CCTVs about 500 metres away from the spot where the body was recovered. Information on missing persons was also gathered from police stations of the city. The police got to know that a transgender, named Zoya, had come to Asharfi Colony area to meet someone on August 28. The police checked the CCTVs of various places in Asharfi and found Zoya in the area. However, the police were still unaware of the identity of the person whom Zoya had met.
Auto driver gave info on accused
When police officers met Zoya’s family, they identified the piece of cloth which was found tied on the legs of the deceased. They informed the police that the cloth belonged to Zoya. Later, the police identified the autorickshaw driver who had dropped Zoya at the accused’s home. Following the lead given by the autorickshaw driver, the police managed to identify the accused as Noor Mohammad, a resident of Asharfi Colony. After that, the accused was arrested from the old Indore area of the city.
The accused had paid Rs 500 online to Zoya
During interrogation, Noor Mohammad said that he had got the mobile number of Zoya from the Internet. They spoke over the phone to each other and the accused called them to meet him at his place as his wife was at her parents’ home that day. The police said he had paid Rs 500 to Zoya online and the remaining amount was to be paid at his place. After coming to know that she was transgender, the accused refused to give her more money. They had an argument and the accused strangled them to death.
The accused told reporters that the transgender attacked him following an argument between them. So, he strangled them to death and cut their body into two parts. After putting the lower portion of the body in a plastic bag and dumping it in the bushes, he kept the upper portion of the body in a box at his home. The police said that he was planning to dump the upper portion of the body somewhere else. The upper portion of the body was also recovered by the police.
