Murder or robbery? Cops unclear about the plan

MUMBAI: Although the police have arrested three men for the murder of a woman and her two grandchildren in Malvani, they are not yet clear if the original plan was

MUMBAI: Although the police have arrested three men for the murder of a woman and her two grandchildren in Malvani, they are not yet clear if the original plan was to rob Babli Shaw or kill the family.

HT Image

According to the police, the accused -- Anam Shaikh, her husband Salman Akbar and their friend Salman Afzal – killed the two children, Aryan, 13 and Sania, 10, because they did not want to leave witnesses behind. The police said they were carrying two razors, but stabbed Shaw with a kitchen knife. “Shaikh used to visit Shaw’s house often. The children would have identified her, so the trio stabbed the children too,” said a crime branch official.

The post-mortem reports revealed the children were stabbed more than 10 times, said the police. Aryan and Sania had moved i n with Babli after their mother died a few years ago.

Their father, Ismail, a local fish seller, got married to another woman and has a son from the marriage. The Malvani police picked him up for questioning, but haven’t got any evidence against him.