Headless body case: Accused’s brother-in-law arrested

Yusuf Shaikh is married to Asif Shaikh’s (the accused) sister. Yusuf, who works as a partner with a cab aggregator, allegedly drove the headless body to Kalamb beach on July 21, 2021

Mumbai Three days after the Vasai police cracked the case of the headless body, the brother-in-law of the 30-year-old accused has been arrested for helping the man dump his wife’s body at the Kalamb beach in 2021.

The police have also detained Shaikh’s parents and brother for allegedly helping Shaikh kill his wife Sanya (25) and also for getting rid of the evidence, before discreetly shifting from Nalasopara to Mumbra (HT Photo)

Yusuf Shaikh is married to Asif Shaikh’s (the accused) sister. Yusuf, who works as a partner with a cab aggregator, allegedly drove the headless body to Kalamb beach on July 21, 2021.

The police have also detained Shaikh’s parents and brother for allegedly helping Shaikh kill his wife Sanya (25) and also for getting rid of the evidence, before discreetly shifting from Nalasopara to Mumbra.

According to Kalyanrao Karpe, senior police inspector of Vasai police station, Shaikh’s brother-in-law Yusuf Shaikh was arrested after Shaikh revealed that he wrapped Sanya’s torso in a bedsheet and stuffed it in a suitcase. The police said that after beheading Sanya in the presence of his family members, Shaikh had then called Yusuf to help him dispose of her body.

Karpe said that Yusuf and Shaikh had thrown Sanya’s head in the nearby creek but they have been unable to recover it. “We will send Sanya’s DNA profile to all police stations to check with skulls that have been recovered in their respective areas and compare them with the DNA of the victim,” said Karpe.

According to the Vasai police on July 26, 2021, they had found the body of a woman dressed in a salwaar-kameez. It was only on August 30, this year, the Vasai police received information that a woman named Sanya Shaikh (25) had been missing for one year. Karpe said that they then suspected the deceased could be Sanya and approached her relatives. Vasai police officers then called Sanya’s husband and asked him to provide DNA samples of himself and his daughter, which proved that it was Sanya’s body.