24-year-old gets life term for killing his mother’s lover

Mumbai man sentenced to life for murdering mother's lover in Bandra by smashing his head with a paver block. Witnesses saw the brutal attack.

MUMBAI: The sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a 22-year-old to life imprisonment for murdering his mother’s lover by smashing his head with a paver block several times in Bandra in 2019. The accused, Shahbaz Shaikh, was allegedly unhappy over his mother’s illicit relationship with the victim, which enraged him and hence, he confronted the victim.

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According to the prosecution, on October 21, 2019, around 10:16pm, the complainant - a police officer - on night duty received a call that a person was murdered near Bandra Terminus.

Immediately, upon receiving this information, the complainant and his colleague rushed to the spot and noticed that a crowd had gathered at the spot and saw that a man in his early forties was lying in a pool of blood, with blood mainly oozing out of his head and forehead. A closer look revealed that the victim’s head was smashed.

“Between the Reserve Bank of India and the Income Tax Office on BKC Road, we noticed one person beating another and one woman was raising shouts for help. The person who was assaulting there threatened us not to interfere in this matter otherwise he will also assault us,” said Vinay Mandal, an eyewitness who was passing by. In his testimony, Mandal also stated that Shaikh repeatedly struck the victim on the head with a paver block approximately ten to fifteen times.

However, the mother of the accused, Sayara Shaikh, 59, outrightly denied the testimony given by Mandal and other witnesses.

She said that she, along with her husband, son, and daughter, lived in a rented house in Dharavi but had received a phone call from an estate agent who assured them of a room. She further stated that the agent had informed her that he was at the City Park, hence she went there to meet him. “I did not know the agent. He had given a signal by hand while talking on the phone. He tried to cross the road. One big vehicle dashed into him. Following that, he collided with 2-3 more vehicles, as well as a couple’s scooty, before falling on his face. It was during these collisions that he sustained a head injury, she said in her testimony.

She denied her son’s presence at the spot of the incident and added that she called him only later when she was called to the BKC police station.