A 33-year-old man has been arrested by the police on Wednesday afternoon for allegedly killing and chopping a 17-year-old minor boy who he considered "like a son" since the boy was of age seven. Police found three plastic bags with pieces of body parts - legs, arms and head at accused's house where he stored it on the kitchen platform. He used a hammer to kill the boy, and a chopper to cut his body into three pieces, said the police.
The arrested accused is Shafi, alias Shafiq Abdul Majid Sheikh, an auto rickshaw driver by profession. Shafi was on duty mostly during the nights, which is why his wife stayed at her mother's place, which is also nearby - at MHADA Colony in Bharat Nagar in Vashinaka, Chembur.
Lalit Dhurian, father of Shafi's wife, started treating the deceased as a family member, and thus Shafi's wife saw him as a brother. "Victim was very close to Lalit's family and so to his two daughters. After Shafi married his wife, he too started seeing him like a son. However, seeing how friendly he was with his wife and wife's sister, he started to get suspicious about their relationship. He (Shafi) told us that victim touched his wife and her sister inappropriately which he disliked and was angry about it," said a police official who is part of the investigation.
On August 26, Monday morning, when Shafi returned from his work, he asked the victim to come over and after having a short, unrelated chat, he hit him with a hammer of his head which led to his death. Unable to gauge the situation, he panicked and picked up a chopper, chopped his arms, legs, and the neck. "The pieces of the body was put inside three polythene bags and had kept on the kitchen counter. He had planned to dispose it off but was not sure where. His wife was at her house all this time but on Wednesday morning when she returned to check on her husband, she found a foul smell inside the house. At first he was trying to divert the topic but then he confessed everything to his wife, after which she called the police control room and informed us about the incident," said a senior police official at RCF police station.
During the investigation, police found that Shafi was arrested 9 years ago by Uran Police for the charges of murder. However, after 8 years of court procedure regarding the matter, he was acquitted "not guilty" by the court.
In the case registered against Shafi, police have added sections including 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act.
The body of the victim has been sent to JJ Hospital for forensic examination, meanwhile Shafi has been placed under arrest for the charges of murder. He will be presented in court on Thursday morning, added the police.
