Worli Sea Face murder: Police still clueless but probe helps crack 27 cases of missing women

Investigation into the murder of a woman found in Worli Sea Face has led to the solving of 27 missing persons cases, but her identity remains unknown.

Investigation into the suspected murder of a woman whose body was found behind INS Trata at Worli Sea Face has resulted in the police solving 27 cases of missing females, although they are still clueless about the identity of the murder victim. Twenty of the 27 cases were cracked by the local police while the crime branch detected the remaining seven, including some kidnapping cases registered after minor girls were reported missing.

HT Image

The Worli Sea Face murder victim was discovered on July 4. A man, while answering Nature’s call, spotted a plastic sack floating on the sea behind INS Trata in Worli Koliwada, with a woman’s legs sticking out of the sack. He reported the matter to the police.

A police team took the body to Nair Hospital, where doctors opined that the woman had been killed around seven days prior to the discovery of the body. They placed her in the age group of 15 to 17 years.

The woman was wearing a red salwar-kameez and a locket with images of Lord Shiva and Hanuman. She also had a black silk cord tied to one of her legs. The articles, however, could not help in ascertaining her identity, especially since the body had rotted. The Worli local police, along with other police personnel from Zone 3 and the Mumbai crime branch units, then began a parallel investigation into the case.

“We shortlisted 298 women reported missing across Maharashtra and accordingly started visiting their houses to check their details,” said a crime branch officer. “After speaking to their family members, we started looking for them in the hope that we might get some leads on the Worli Sea Face body.”

The Worli police, in this manner, succeeded in tracing 20 missing women to different states and reunited them with their families. The crime branch, on its part, tracked down seven other missing women, two each reported missing at the RAK Marg police station and Dharavi area, and one each from Sewri, Mahim and Wadala areas. “Most of the missing cases were minor girls who had eloped with boys,” said a crime branch officer. “However, as they were minors, based on complaints lodged by their family members, the police had registered kidnapping cases.”

To solve the Worli murder case, the police had decided to concentrate on coastal areas like Versova, Juhu, Bandra, Malwani, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai, Virar, Kalyan and Thane, from where the body could have floated to Worli Sea Face. “The searches helped us solve other cases but we are yet to identify the murder victim and nab her killer,” the officer added.

After failing to ascertain the woman’s identity through conventional means, the Worli police last month got her face reconstructed with the help of doctors at KEM Hospital and also declared a reward of ₹25,000 for any information about her.

What is facial reconstruction?

Forensic facial reconstruction plays a major role in identifying human remains when the chances of DNA or fingerprint-matching are bleak. This procedure might not be able to provide a 100 percent representation of the victim but it can provide one that is close enough to facilitate identification. The procedure involves the skills of artistry, osteology, and anatomy.

Depending on the condition of the skulls, it takes between one and two months to complete the facial reconstruction. “Every human being has their own unique facial points like fingerprints,” said the officer. “Calculating all these facial points, the experts place clay or flesh units on the face and prepare one that resembles the deceased.”

Forensic facial reconstruction technology has helped the police solve two missing cases in the past. “Those faces were reconstructed with the help of the skulls of the deceased,” said a police officer. In 2018, KEM became the first hospital in Maharashtra to perform facial reconstruction in a suspected murder case.