Mumbai: In a chilling turn of events, the Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested Imran Shaikh, the stepfather of four-year-old Amaira Shaikh, in connection with her murder. The child had gone missing from her residence in Antop Hill on the night of July 14 and her body was recovered from the Colaba sea coast the next morning.
Police Suspected Stepfather Over Girl's Disappearance
Amaira was reported missing by her mother, Nazia, who had gone to the Antop Hill police station to lodge a complaint. However, as the investigation progressed, suspicion grew around Imran’s role in the child’s disappearance. According to an Indian Express report quoting police sources, Imran, also known as Immu, had taken Amaira with him the night she went missing and had been unreachable since, with his phone switched off.
Body Found Near Sassoon Dock
Amaira lived with her mother and stepfather in the Bengali Pura area of Rajiv Nagar in Antop Hill. Nazia, who has been previously married twice, was currently in her third marriage with Imran. On the night of July 14, after failing to locate Amaira despite searching extensively, Nazia approached the police. The next morning, Colaba police received an alert about a child’s body found floating near Sassoon Dock. The body, later confirmed to be Amaira's, was sent to St. George Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Initially, the Antop Hill police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR), but with Imran absconding, suspicions deepened. Using physical identifiers from the missing person’s report, Colaba police confirmed the identity of the deceased. Cops now believe that Amaira may have been murdered and her body dumped into the sea.
Following this development, police intensified efforts to trace Imran. After going off the radar briefly, he was arrested on Tuesday. Authorities are now focusing on uncovering the motive behind the brutal crime and piecing together the exact sequence of events leading to the child’s death.
