Woman, 3-year-old daughter found with throats slit in Mumbai flat

According to Shahu Nagar police, a fire was reported at Diamond Co-operative Society in Mahim, at 11.30 am. When police officials reached the specified flat, they found two dead bodies in the kitchen.

 A 30-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter were found dead in their Mahim flat on Thursday morning, with their throats slit and bodies half-burnt. Shahu Nagar police have registered a case of accidental death, but members of the victims’ family are being questioned by the police.

The crime spot at Diamond Co-operative Society in Mahim. (HT Photo)

According to Shahu Nagar police, a fire was reported at Diamond Co-operative Society in Mahim, at 11.30 am. When police officials reached the specified flat, they found two dead bodies in the kitchen. They were identified as Tehsin Illiyaz Sayed and her daughter, Alia.

“Tehsin’s husband, Ilyaz, her brother-in-law, Meraj, his wife and a few relatives are in custody and interrogation is on. We are also scanning CCTV footage of the building to get clues,” said a senior officer, adding that the police were not ruling out either suicide or murder as possibilities.

Initial investigation has revealed that Illyaz followed his normal schedule of leaving home at 9am, visiting a shrine in Dongri and then going to his embroidery garment shop in Wadala.

Tehsin’s brother in-law and Dongri resident Shan-e-ali Sayed said, “Tehsin was speaking with her mother, who lives in Jhansi, at 10 am. At that point, Tehsin told her mother that someone had run the doorbell, and she disconnected the phone to open the door.”

Police officials said that around 10am, Tehsin had also called a friend about her elder daughter Samana’s annual day at school. She’d told her friend that Ilyaz was going to pick Samana up from school.

Approximately an hour and a half later, a laundry boy, Ram Lakan Nirmal, came to the building to deliver clothes to Sayeds’ neighbour.

“When I reached the floor, I saw neighbours screaming about fire,” said Nirmal, who was told to go to the 13th floor where another one of Tehsin’s relatives, Meraj, lives. Nirmal reached Meraj at 11.30am and Meraj immediately tried to contact Tehsin on her mobile phone, but she did not pick up.

Shan-e-ali Sayed said, “We are not suspecting anything fishy and it is not a case of suicide. There were no complaints between Tehsin and Illyaz, and they were living happily.”

Ilyaz and Meraj are among the relatives who have been taken in for questioning by the police.