Mumbai: Belgian police, judge, lawyer to question trio accused of deaf-and-mute’s murder

The team will start questioning the accused trio, lodged in two separate jails, from Wednesday, said police

MUMBAI: A police team from Belgium is in the city to question the three speech and hearing impaired persons who were arrested for allegedly killing their associate, 30-year-old Arshad Ali Sadiq Ali Shaikh, in August last year. The team comprises three police officers, a judge, a government lawyer, a videographer and an interpreter, a senior officer from Mumbai police told Hindustan Times.

Jagpalpreet Singh, accused

“The Belgian team is staying at the Trident Hotel in Nariman Point. They will start questioning the accused, lodged in two separate jails, from Wednesday,” the officer said.

Shaikh’s murder came to light on August 5, 2024, when a government railway police constable noticed two men, identified as Jay Chavda and Shivjeet Singh, pulling a large suitcase on platform number 11 in Dadar station. Finding their activities suspicious, he checked the suitcase and found a body wrapped in polythene inside.

Both Chavda and Singh were arrested in connection with the alleged murder. Later, the deceased’s wife Ruksana Arshad Shaikh was also arrested, with the police claiming that she had an extramarital affair with Chavda and was aware of the conspiracy to kill her husband.

Police sought the help of a teacher from the Bombay Institute for Deaf and Mute, Ayaz Ahmed Nazir Shaikh, to communicate with the accused, including Ruksana, who was also hearing and speech impaired.

During investigation, the Pydhonie police team headed by additional commissioner of police Abhinav Deshmukh and deputy commissioner of police Mohit Garg found that Chavda and Singh had stripped, tied up and tortured Shaikh to death, and even made a video of the assault. They had also made several video calls to Jagpalpreet Kamal Singh, 50, a native of Phagwara in Punjab who was based in Brussels.

“Jagpalpreet had provoked the accused during the video calls and instructed them to torture, beat and kill Arshad Shaikh,” an officer familiar with case told HT. There was stiff competition among Shivjeet and Arshad Shaikh over supremacy within their group, which prompted Jagpalpreet Singh to provoke Shivjeet and Chavda, the officer added.

Jagpalpreet, who is also speech and hearing impaired, was detained in October 2024 after members of speech and hearing impaired groups in Brussels informed the police about videos he had shared on the community’s WhatsApp group which allegedly showed his involvement in the murder. In March, a Red Corner Notice was issued against him.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai police wrote to the authorities in Belgium through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), seeking Jagpalpreet Singh’s extradition, although India does not have an extradition treaty with Belgium. The Belgian authorities refused the extradition request and said they would try Singh in Brussels instead. Accordingly, the Mumbai police gave their Belgian counterparts all the evidence in the case after translating it into English to facilitate the trial in Brussels.

The Belgian police subsequently sought to interrogate the accused in presence of a judicial officer, in aid to Singh’s trial in Belgium, and approached the sessions court in the city which is hearing the murder case. On October 10, the sessions court observed that there was a treaty between India and Belgium on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and granted permission to the Belgian police to interrogate the three accused, saying there should be no violation of their rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

“We will take the team to Arthur Road jail where Chavda and Singh are lodged and to Byculla Woman’s prison where Ruksana Shaikh is lodged. We will also deploy an interpreter to communicate with the deaf and mute trio in sign language,” said the police officer quoted earlier.