Representative image of stabbing.
Credit: iStock Photo
Thane: The murderous attack on a 20-year-old woman from Uran in Navi Mumbai by a man known to her was a fallout of her refusal to accompany him to Bengaluru and insistence to discard her photos in his possession, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Dawood Shaikh, 23, was apprehended from Gulbarga in Karnataka on Tuesday morning, days after the body of the woman was found dumped with severe injuries in bushes.
Earlier in the day, a court in Raigad district remanded Shaikh to police custody for seven days. Police have imposed additional charges under the SC/ST Atrocities Act against the accused.
"Shaikh travelled from Karnataka to Uran on July 23 and met the victim at Juinagar railway station in Navi Mumbai the next day," a police officer who is part of the investigation said.
He said the woman and Shaikh quarrelled on July 25 over her pictures that he had posted on Facebook.
"Shaikh had deleted the online pictures of the woman. However, she was not happy and wanted him to delete all of the pictures he was holding. The disagreement escalated when Sheikh insisted that she come with him to Bengaluru but was turned down.
"In a fit of rage, Shaikh fatally stabbed the woman with a knife he had brought from Bengaluru and fled (on July 25)," the officer said.
The woman’s body was found in the wee hours of Saturday (July 27) after her parents filed a missing persons report on July 25.
After the murder, Shaikh contacted his friend in Bengaluru and asked him to transfer money to his account. He withdrew the money at an ATM kiosk in Panvel and fled to Karnataka, the officer said.
The officer said police would build a watertight case against Shaikh.
According to police, the accused had lived in Uran for some time. In 2019, the victim’s father lodged a police complaint against him for harassing his daughter, resulting in the registration of a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against him and subsequent incarceration.
Shaikh was released on bail. He met with a road accident and remained bedridden for some time. He subsequently revived his contact with the victim.
The accused worked as a driver in Karnataka. Shaikh and the victim remained in contact with each other, according to police.
The police officer said there was no religious angle to the crime and emphasised that the accused and the victim were acquainted for some time.
"The investigation will include recreating the crime scene," he added.