Dombivli GRP to file chargesheet in honour killing case on Monday

The Dombivli Government Railway Police will file a chargesheet on Monday in a case of honour killing that was detected in July this year; while the accused tried to pass off the murder as a suicide, the position of the body provided the police with a crucial clue as to the truth

The Dombivli Government Railway Police will file a chargesheet on Monday in a case of honour killing that was detected in July this year. While the accused had tried to pass off the murder as a suicide, the position of the body provided the police with a crucial clue as to the truth.

Dombivli GRP to file chargesheet on Monday in honour killing case detected in July this year. (HT FILE)

According to the Dombivli GRP, the chargesheet, which runs into over 1,000 pages, indicts 11 accused, out of which nine are currently in judicial custody and two are in a juvenile detention centre, as they are minors.

The accused are alleged to have murdered Sahil Hashmi (19), a resident of Chhanora in Uttar Pradesh. According to the chargesheet, Sahil was in a relationship with the cousin sister of the accused, which did not go down well with her family, as Sahil came from a lower socio-economic background than hers.

“The chargesheet contains a lot of technical evidence against the accused, which was crucial in nailing their involvement in the offence. Apart from this, there is also medical and forensic evidence as well as witness statements,” senior police inspector Mukesh Dhage, Dombivli GRP, said.

The girl told the police that they were coming to Mumbai by the Varanasi Junction-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Ratnagiri Superfast Express when Sahil jumped off the train and committed suicide.

“Based on the girl’s statement, we had registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). However, the position of the body gave us a reason to suspect that something was wrong. In our experience, a person who has jumped from a running train lands on his face or his side, while Sahil was found on his back,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil, Central Railway, said.

Based on this point, the police started a deeper investigation into the history of Sahil and his girlfriend, and found out about her family’s opposition to their relationship. CCTV footage and cellular location mapping further established that the accused were on the same train as the couple on the day of Sahil’s death.

“Sahil and his girlfriend had eloped from Chhanora on June 15 and boarded the train on June 18 to come to Mumbai. When her family learned about it, they registered a complaint of kidnapping with the UP Police and also informed the accused, who stay in Mumbai, about which train they were on. One of them is the girl’s blood sibling while the rest are cousins. They boarded different bogies of the train when it reached Kalyan, found the couple and threw him off the train before it reached Dombivli,” Dhage said.

The accused have been charged with murder and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code.