Woman, 2 grandchildren killed in Malvani

MUMBAI: Two children and their grandmother were stabbed to death in Malvani early on Thursday. Local residents discovered the bodies around 10am and alerted the

MUMBAI: Two children and their grandmother were stabbed to death in Malvani early on Thursday. Local residents discovered the bodies around 10am and alerted the police, who registered a case of murder against an unknown person.

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Aryan Shaikh, 13, and his sister Sania, 10, lived with their grandmother Babli Shaw, 47, in Saabri Cooperative Housing Society. The police suspect that someone known to the family entered their home as it has a safety door and there was no sign of a forced entry.

The killer slit Aryan’s throat and stabbed Sania and Shaw with a kitchen knife. Shaw’s body bore several stab wounds around the neck, chest, back and head — signs that she had fought the assailant, according to the police.

Neighbours remembered Shaw as a courageous woman, who took in the two children after their mother died of an illness many years ago. The children’s father, Ismail, remarried after his wife died and has a son with his second wife. He sells fish for a living and lives in the same area.

The police are questioning Ismail and making inquiries with other l ocal residents, including Shaw’s tenants, for leads. The motive is unknown; the police are checking whether a property dispute or personal enmity was behind the murders.

Srirang Nadgauda, assistant commissioner of police, Malvani division, said, “The family was last seen at 1.30am, when Shaw was talking to her neighbours. We have recovered the knife used in the murders.” Investigators said that after killing the three, the assailant locked the safety door and fled through the backdoor. The police have found bloodstains outside the chawl.

Though the house is in a narrow chawl, no-one reported hearing cries for help. The police suspect that this was because the air-conditioner in Shaw’s home was on at the time.

The police sent the bodies for post-mortem. Teams of policemen from the local police station and the Mumbai crime branch reached the spot for leads. Late in the afternoon, a forensic team and a dog squad visited the crime scene. But as the dog squad arrived many hours after the murder, the sniffer dog could not pick up the killer’s scent, an official said, adding that rain may have destroyed some evidence.