25-yr-old son held for murder after woman’s body parts found in Mumbai

Sohail Shaikh was picked up on the basis of the leads obtained after scanning footage from CCTVs in the area. Police said the two fought on December 29, and Shaikh, who was drunk, allegedly strangled the woman in a fit of rage.

Eight days after a body of a woman with head and legs severed was found at Vidyavihar, the Ghatkopar police on Wednesday arrested her son for the murder.

This is the latest case where mutilated body parts were found dumped in the city. In all cases, the accused were close family members. (Getty Images/ Representational Photo)

According to police, the woman, 45, lived in a slum in Kurla (West). The two fought frequently as Sohail Shaikh, 25, was unemployed. The police have refused to name the woman. “Shaikh’s mother used to scold and mock him. He used to work as a labourer in the Gulf, but had returned to the city recently,” said a police officer, privy to the investigation. “Shaikh’s father died a few years ago. He was an alcoholic and used to become violent after drinking. He has confessed to the crime,” the officer said.

Police said the two fought on December 29, too, and Shaikh, who was drunk, allegedly strangled the woman in a fit of rage. “He chopped the body, wrapped it in different packets and disposed it of over the next three days. We are questioning him and will verify his statements,” said the officer. He put the packets on his scooter and discarded the parts at three different locations in Vidyavihar and neighbouring Kurla.

Shaikh was picked up on the basis of the leads obtained after scanning footage from CCTVs in the area. He was being questioned at the time of going to press. “We have got certain positive leads,” said Akhileshkumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, zone 7, refusing to divulge the details.

On December 30, the torso was recovered from a footpath near state transport bus workshop at Nausena Vihar in Vidyavihar. It was found wrapped in a bedsheet, and the victim had worn a top. The next day, the police recovered both her legs in a garbage bin in Kurla, after a few locals spotted a suspicious packet in a blue tarpaulin sheet. On January 4, the police recovered her head, which was found thrown near the railway tracks in Kurla.

This is the latest case where mutilated body parts were found dumped in the city. In all cases, the accused were close family members.

On December 7, the crime branch solved the mystery of a travel bag found with limbs stuffed in it on the shore near Mahim Dargah. The deceased was identified as a 59-year-old musician from Vakola based on the tailor’s tag on the sweater in which his limbs were wrapped. Police used his social media profile to confirm his identity. Investigation revealed his 17-year-old adopted daughter and her 16-year-old boyfriend killed him at his Vakola residence on November 26 . The duo took three days to cut the body and stuffed the parts in three different bags and threw them at different places.

On December 3, a man’s body was found in a secluded place in Chembur. Five days later, the crime branch identified the man as Devendra Akhade, 32, and arrested his sister and brother-in-law. The accused killed Akhade as the latter was addicted to drugs and harassed them.