Couple arrested for killing man’s ex-girlfriend, dumping body in Gujarat

A man and his wife have been arrested for allegedly killing his former girlfriend, a hair stylist, after she refused to withdraw a rape complaint against him. The couple disposed of the body in Gujarat.

The Naigaon police on Tuesday arrested a man and his wife who allegedly killed his former girlfriend, a 29-year-old hair stylist, after she refused to withdraw a rape complaint that she had filed against him five years ago. The couple had allegedly disposed of her body at Pardi in Valsad district of Gujarat – around 180 km from Mumbai.

Couple arrested for killing man’s ex-girlfriend, dumping body in Gujarat

According to the police, Naina Ramchandra Mahat, a Nepalese national, had come to Mumbai along with her brother and sister in 2016. The three siblings had initially taken a one-bedroom-kitchen flat on rent in Sunteck City township in Naigaon East after paying ₹4 lakh in security deposit.

Mahat, who worked as a hair stylist in Bollywood, met the accused - Manohar Ravishankar Shukla, 34, a costume fittings man - on a film set in 2016. The two had an affair until 2019 when Shukla married another woman, Poornima, 30. Angry, Mahat approached the Waliv police and based on her complaint, a case of rape under section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Shukla.

Police officers said the murder, which occurred on August 9, came to light after Mahat’s elder sister Jaya filed a missing person’s complaint. Jaya, who is a make-up artist, said she was in Khandala for a shoot when she learnt that Naina was not reachable.

“On August 14, I received a call from Naina’s colleague that she had an opportunity of an outdoor shoot, but Naina had not been answering her phone for the last couple of days,” Jaya said in her statement to the police. “I tried reaching her through her mobile and social media but got no response. I then went to her apartment, but it was locked. I checked her Instagram and other social media accounts but saw no update in the previous few days. Fearing the worst, I went to the Naigaon police and filed a missing complaint before contacting our father in Nepal and brother in Mumbai.”

Jaya said she had been living in Nalasopara for the last few months after a fight with her sister over Shukla. “Shukla has always been a bad influence on Naina.”

Padmaja Bade, assistant commissioner of police (Naigaon division), said they scanned the CCTV footage of C1 building in Sunteck City where Naina stayed. The recording of August 9 showed Shukla and Poornima along with their two-year-old child and a blue travel suitcase exiting the building lift, she said.

After detaining Shukla and questioning him on Monday, the police found out that Shukla and his wife had killed Mahat and stuffed her body in the suitcase which was disposed of in the bushes at Pardi.

A Naigaon police team reached the spot where Shukla had dumped the suitcase and found Mahat’s body in a decomposing state. The only thing through which they identified the body was a tattoo of Shiva’s trishul on her right forearm. “She was fond of lord Shiva like our entire family and was an ardent devotee of the lord. Naina had a tattoo of trishul which she had got made a few months ago,” Jaya said.

According to Bade, Shukla revealed that in 2019 Mahat and he had gone to Jeevdani temple where they had a fight after he told her that he was getting married to another woman. Shukla had assaulted Mahat after which a case under section 324 of IPC was registered against him at Virar police station.

Later in 2019 when Shukla married Poornima, Mahat filed a complaint and a rape case was registered against Shukla, and he was arrested. He had spent around one month behind bars before getting out on bail.

Since then, the couple who resided in Evershine City in Vasai East, had been threatening Mahat to withdraw the complaint and often landed at her house and picked up fights with her, Jaya said. However, Mahat was not ready to withdraw the complaint unless he married her after divorcing Poornima or gave her monthly allowance, Jaya added.

On August 9, Shukla and Poornima landed at Mahat’s flat and began torturing her to withdraw the complaint, a police officer from Naigaon police station said and added that “during the fight, Shukla submerged Mahat’s head in a bucket of water several times. When she fell unconscious, the couple left the flat.”

A few hours later when Shukla returned to check on Mahat, he found her collapsed on the floor. He checked her heartbeat and found that Mahat had died, the police officer said.

Shukla then called up Poornima who reached the flat with a suitcase. The couple put the body in the bag and rode their two-wheeler along with their kid to Pardi where they threw the bag, the officer added. The body was eventually found.

The police arrested the couple around 2 am on Tuesday and produced them before the Vasai court in the afternoon. The court has remanded them in police custody till September 16.