Wadala railway track murder: ‘Unemployed man killed 75-year-old woman with the intent of robbing her’

A 27-year-old man was arrested in Mumbai for allegedly murdering a 75-year-old woman and burning her body. The suspect had attempted to steal her gold jewellery.

MUMBAI: A week after a 75-year-old woman’s amputated body parts were found inside a gunny sack on railway tracks of Bombay Port Trust (BPT) in Wadala, the police arrested a 27-year-old suspect involved in the alleged murder and the subsequent destruction of evidence by burning the victim’s body.

Wadala railway track murder: ‘Unemployed man killed 75-year-old woman with the intent of robbing her’

The case had perplexed the investigators, but through human intelligence and technical evidence, the alleged murderer was tracked down on Wednesday, said an officer from Wadala police station.

According to police, the accused Mohammad Sayeed, who is unemployed, invited the victim Sugrabi Mulla for a cup of tea. Since Sayeed was known to Sugrabi, she accepted the offer. However, once inside his home, Sayeed tried snatching her gold jewellery and then physically assaulted her, striking her with an iron rod over the head twice. He then placed her lifeless body in a gunny sack and threw it from his building. Later, under the cover of darkness, he dragged the body to a deserted area in Bombay Port Trust and set it ablaze.

On October 25, while conducting a survey, the staffers of the BPT track maintenance department found the body partially burnt and wrapped in a gunny sack. “When the body was sent to KEM Hospital, they told us the woman was around 60 years old and probably killed two days ago,” said Sanjay Latkar, deputy commissioner of police, Port Zone. He said a team consisting of 12 investigators were assigned the task to trace the killer.

“Police officers from Sewri, Yellow Gate and Wadala police stations were put on the job. They pasted posters, circulated the woman’s pictures, and took photos of her jewellery which were also circulated on various WhatsApp groups in Antop Hill, Wadala and Sewri areas,” said Latkar.

Through her hair colour and her jewellery, she was identified by one shopkeeper who told the police that the woman was working with one Arifa Qazi who stayed at Eternal Dosti CHS in Wadala. The deceased was then identified. Qazi told us she had not come to work for the past two days, Latkar added.

Police inspector Milind Jadhav and sub-inspector Prashant Ranware then started searching for her relatives in the nearby areas. “We checked nearby Chindigali, Nityanand Nagar, Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, Sangam Nagar, Matunga and Wadala TT areas and in Sangam Nagar found her son who identified the woman,” said Ranware.

Her son told the police that he thought his mother might have gone to Ulwe, Navi Mumbai to his brother’s house and therefore didn’t bother to check on her.

“We learnt that the woman had left her employer’s house but had not reached home in the evening of October 24. We started questioning people near BPT area and Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, Wadala East and learnt that she was captured on some CCTV cameras. A source told us that the woman last spoke to Mohammad Sayyad alias Baba, who stayed in a rented room at Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar and was seen near his house,” said Ranware.

When the police officers questioned Sayyad, he initially denied having any knowledge about her death. However, the police noticed some blood stains on his window, after which he confessed to having killed the woman.

“Sayyad used to see Sugrabi Mulla every day while she used to leave for work from her home which was just three lanes behind Sayyad’s house. She used to wear a gold ring, earrings and nose ring. Sayyad, who used to work in the housekeeping department of a company, was unemployed for the last few months and was in dire need of money,” said Latkar.

Therefore, with the intent of robbing her while she was walking home, he called her for a cup of tea at his house and after some time started pulling her gold rings, when she objected, he picked an iron rod and hit it on her head. The woman, he purportedly revealed, bled profusely and fell unconscious.

“He then got afraid and put her body in a sack and took it up to the attic and threw it from the small window in an open ground behind his house. His wife had gone to the market at the time,” said senior police inspector, Milind Jadhav of Wadala police station.

On the night of October 24, Sayyad dragged the body 50 metres away from his house, poured kerosene and set it ablaze. “He was too frightened to remove her ornaments or valuables,” Jadhav added. He said it appeared robbery was the only motive behind the crime.