04 January,2022 07:44 AM IST | Mumbai | Anurag Kamble
A grab of the video that the couple made of them thrashing Abdul Sheikh
The Mankhurd police have arrested a couple from Mulund for allegedly killing a 69-year-old cook and dumping his body at Sathe Nagar, Mankhurd. On January 1, the couple had gone out, leaving their two children in his care. The police said when they returned, their 12-year-old daughter told them she was molested by the cook. Enraged, the father beat up the cook with a cane and belt till he died.
The police said the couple even filmed the man thrashing Abdul Khalil Sheikh, the cook. After realising that the old man was dead, the couple took the body to Mankhurd and dumped it there. Sheikh worked as a cook and caretaker and had been employed just eight days before by the couple, who own a fish selling business. They have a daughter and a son who is younger than her.
Sheikh had been employed by the couple just eight days ago
An officer from Mankhurd police station said, "The old man was beaten with a belt and a wooden stick. The father was so furious that he didn't realise the man was gasping for breath. The couple got scared when they realised he was not breathing." The man waited till midnight and he and his wife then took the body in his car. The police said they went to Sathe Nagar, Mankhurd, where he stayed, and dumped the body near an electric pole along the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road.
"On January 2, at 8 am a passer by noticed the body and informed the police control room. We sent the body to Rajawadi Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. We started circulating his pictures and his daughter identified him," said Inspector Adinath Gawade. His family then lodged a complaint. Sheikh's family said he had been living at his employer's house in Mulund for the past eight days. The police arrested his employer, who confessed to the crime. His wife too was arrested and both are in police custody.
The police said the couple planned to flee to Bihar with their children. "As soon as we came to know where the accused stayed, we rushed to their home. But the house was locked. With technical assistance we zeroed down on them in Chembur and arrested them from their friend's house. They were waiting for a train to go to Bihar with their family. They have been booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC," said Dattatray Khade, senior inspector (additional charge), Mankhurd police station.
"The family had come to live in the building 8 to 10 months ago on rental basis. They were not so communicative and hardly interacted with anyone. That night there were sounds of shouting but we didn't feel anything untoward was happening," said one of the couple's neighbours. The police said in the video the couple can be heard shouting at Sheikh, "police aa rahi hai abhi". They claimed that they had called the police control room, but the police never arrived. The Mankhurd cops said they would check their records to ascertain their claim.
