Navi Mumbai paedophile and Kurla rapist are the same guy

Upon interrogation, Rehan Qureshi confessed to the 2010 rape-murders as well

Not only did serial child rapist Rehan Qureshi abuse more than 20 children across Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar since 2015, but it now turns out he also raped and murdered two children in Nehru Nagar way back in 2010. The rape-murder cases had rocked the Kurla locality eight years ago. They remained unsolved until a couple of days ago, when the DNA from one of the cases matched samples taken from Qureshi, who was arrested following a series of mid-day reports on his crimes.

On Saturday, the DNA match came back for one of the cases - the rape-murder of a nine-year-old in Nehru Nagar on March 7, 2010. Upon interrogation, Qureshi confessed to not only this crime, but also an earlier case in the same locality: the sexual assault and murder of a six-year-old on February 6, 2010.

Both these cases had rocked Kurla, not just because of the tender age of the victims, but also because of how quickly and brazenly the accused was picking his targets. The crimes had become so bold that in the second case, the accused assaulted the nine-year-old on the terrace of the police quarters, just a stone's throw from the Nehru Nagar police station.

Sanjay Mhaske shows the staircase where he found the six-year-old girl dead in February 2010

The frenzy increased when a third child, aged 9, was attacked in the same neighbourhood in June. Locals panicked upon the suspicion that the same man was behind all the crimes. The police eventually arrested another accused (cable operator Javed Shaikh), but only charged him for the last incident. The other two cases remained undetected all these years, despite cops testing around 5,000 DNA samples from history-sheeters over the years.

After Qureshi's arrest last month, the Navi Mumbai police dug out all undetected cases from Mumbai and the adjoining cities. Last week, the Navi Mumbai police learnt that Qureshi had lived in Chunabhatti in 2010 and would visit Nehru Nagar often. They immediately sent his DNA samples to the forensic lab in Kalina. Dr Krishna Kulkarni, FSL director, said, "A week ago, the Navi Mumbai police sent samples for DNA test for the Nehru Nagar rape and murder cases from 2010. We sent the results on Saturday."

Qureshi subsequently confessed to committing both the 2010 Nehru Nagar crimes. DCP Tushar Doshi, Navi Mumbai police, confirmed: "He was involved in two rape and murder cases from Kurla. We have matched his DNA and it is positive in one of the cases."

The 2010 victim, a 9-year-old girl, was found on the terrace of this police quarters building on March 7, 2010

How he did it
Qureshi told the police that he had spotted the nine-year-old playing outside her flat on the fourth floor of the police quarters. He took her to the terrace, muffled her screams with his hand and then raped her. When she started crying, he strangled her.

The first case, with the six-year-old, had gone much the same way, except the terrace was locked, so he forced himself on her on the seventh floor staircase of Sai Shraddha building. As the news of his crimes spread and grabbed the nation's attention, Qureshi began to fear being arrested, and fled to Dubai.

Traumatic memories
Sanjay Mhaske, a resident of Sai Shraddha building, recalled the day he discovered the 6-year-old victim on the staircase: "I heard a boy screaming, so I ran to the terrace staircase, but was paralysed by what I saw. There was a little girl, naked, her hand and legs were bound, and there was blood everywhere. I still get scared when I think of it."

There was blood trickling down from the seventh-storey staircase that led residents to the body. The post-mortem report revealed that the girl had been raped and strangled, but the accused had not stopped there. He then bashed her head in with a heavy object to confirm that she was dead. Mhaske added, "It took me a minute to recover from the sight, and then I called everyone in the society, along with the police. After this incident, we kept the terrace locked at all times."

Tukaram Pawar, a police naik who used to live in the police quarters building 109, where the nine-year-old's body was found, said, "I saw a boy running downstairs, scared. When I stopped him and asked what had happened, he just pointed to the terrace. I immediately went there and saw a small girl there, naked and unconscious. I checked her breath and realised she was dead. "I have been following the case all these years. I am happy the police have finally found the culprit."

Recap
In 2010, Nehru Nagar was shaken by the successive rapes and murders of a six-year-old and two nine-year-olds in February, March and June. While the culprit was arrested in the last case, the other two had remained unsolved all these years.

Sequence of events
Sept 26: Rehan Qureshi is arrested from Mira Road
Sept 28: He confesses to total of 19 assault incidents
Last week: Cops send his DNA samples to match against 2010 Nehru Nagar cases
Oct 13: DNA is a positive match for March 2010 case in Nehru Nagar

Also Read: Mumbai: Paedophile rapist admits to abusing more girls than he can remember

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