20-year-old man, two minor girls arrested for killing Mauritian national
While the man, identified as Sayyed Mustakeen Khan, was arrested late at night on Sunday, and remanded in police custody till May 22, the girls were apprehended on Monday morning and sent to a children’s home in Bhiwandi
Navi Mumbai: The Belapur police have arrested a 20-year-old man and two girls aged 16 and 17 years for allegedly murdering a 53-year-old Mauritian national, whose body was found in a trench in the Parsik hill area on Saturday. While the man, identified as Sayyed Mustakeen Khan, was arrested late at night on Sunday, and remanded in police custody till May 22, the girls were apprehended on Monday morning and sent to a children’s home in Bhiwandi.
According to the police, the victim, identified as Navin Kumar Baboo, was an overseas citizen of India. He had over 30 years’ experience in the hotel industry and had relocated to India with his son around eight months ago in search of better job opportunities. He and his son lived on rent in Shahbaz village, and they last spoke on Friday afternoon, when Baboo told him he was going to meet some friends.
During investigation, it was found that the friends Baboo planned to meet were the two minor girls, who lived on the footpath near Natraj Theatre in Chembur and sold coloring books at the Belapur traffic junction for a livelihood.
“Both Khan and Baboo lived in the same neighbourhood and had become friends over the past few months. Baboo met the minor girls through Khan and began spending time with them regularly. The same routine was to be followed on Friday,” said an officer involved in the investigation.
Baboo met the girls at Belapur railway station and proceeded with them towards Parsik Hill on a bike, where he drank some beer while the girls had cold drinks, said the officer.
“After drinking, he seems to have misbehaved with the girls despite their objections, which prompted them to assault him with stones. One of the girls also informed Khan about the incident. He rushed to the spot and joined the girls in thrashing him with stones till he fell into the trench,” the officer noted.
Police zeroed in on the accused through their network after learning from sources that a fight had broken out at Parsik hill. “Through our network, it was established that Khan was present during the fight. On further interrogation, he accepted the crime and was remanded to police custody till May 22. The girls have been sent to the children’s home in Bhiwandi. We are trying to ascertain whether there was any other motive behind the murder,” said assistant police inspector Suresh Dambare.