Malad murder: For 25 years, victim took care of polio-afflicted maid

On Thursday, Shabnam, along with her boyfriend, Mohammad Umer Shaikh, 71 and his son Shehzad Umer Shaikh, 21, had allegedly killed D’Costa in her residence in Orlem, Malad West, to rob her. The woman – a resident of New Life Co-operative Housing Society – was found dead with her head submerged in a bucket filled with water.

Mumbai: The domestic help – who allegedly murdered her 69-year-old employer with the help of her boyfriend and his son – met the victim in Bandra more than two decades ago in 1997. The elderly woman, identified as Marie Selin Wilfred D’costa, gave shelter to Shabnam Shaikh, 42, as the latter was suffering from polio.

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On Thursday, Shabnam, along with her boyfriend, Mohammad Umer Shaikh, 71 and his son Shehzad Umer Shaikh, 21, had allegedly killed D’Costa in her residence in Orlem, Malad West, to rob her. The woman – a resident of New Life Co-operative Housing Society – was found dead with her head submerged in a bucket filled with water.

“D’costa had met Shabnam in 1997 and had taken her in as she had a defect in her leg due to polio. During the Covid-19 induced lockdown, Shabnam had stopped working for D’costa. However, after the lockdown was lifted, D’costa did not want Shabnam to be unemployed and had decided to call her back as the family trusted her. D’costa’s two daughters – Jessica and Tanya – were also returning to Kuwait,” said Ravi Adane, senior police inspector of Malad Police Station.

Shabnam used to cook for the family, wash clothes, clean the house and give massages to the victim. As per the police, Jessica and Tanya felt that an act of charity by their mother proved to be fatal for her.

On Saturday, Shabnam, Mohammad and Shehzad were arrested and were remanded to police custody till April 26 by the Borivali magistrate court. Upon interrogation, the trio handed over the entire stolen booty to the police which they had robbed from the house of the victim after killing her. The three had robbed two mobile phones, two watches and a gold chain costing ₹50,000.

“Mohammed is a history-sheeter and has been involved in several other robbery cases,” said Adane. “After the murder was reported to the police, the first thing we did was check the CCTV footage and found that Shabnam, a resident of Malwani, had come to the house for work along with Shehzad on Thursday.”

“Upon checking further, we saw the duo had let a third person, Mohammed, enter D’Costa’s house. He was wearing a mask and a cap,” he said, adding the trio wanted to rob the house as the victim’s daughters in Kuwait send them money regularly.

The accused thought that they would get good money, however, they were unable to break the cupboard locks, the police said. They are now investigating whether anybody else was also involved in the murder.

“D’Costa’s grandson, Neil Raybole, was staying with her while his mother stayed in Mira Road with his father. On Thursday, Raybole went to the office. He needed an OTP that had come on her grandmother’s mobile phone and was trying to contact her. However, she was not answering the calls,” said a police officer from Malad Police Station. “He then called her neighbour, Rojinold Carvalho, who knocked several times on her door, but nobody opened it. Then, the neighbour opened the door with a duplicate key.”

The officer added that Rojinold found D’Costa in the bathroom with her head submerged in the water bucket and immediately informed Neil about it. He then called a local doctor who visited the house and on checking, declared her dead.