Mumbai housewife's killer nabbed from Howrah while fleeing to Bangladesh

The mobile technician who had killed and robbed his friend, a 32-year-old Malad-based housewife, on Tuesday, was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch from Howrah station in West Bengal around 6 am yesterday.

Also Read: Friend killed housewife to move to Bangladesh with prostitute girlfriend

As reported by mid-day yesterday (‘Friend killed housewife to move to Bangladesh with prostitute girlfriend'), the accused, Arvind Gupta aka Guddu, was trying to flee to Bangladesh to settle there with his girlfriend, a prostitute, when cops nabbed him and recovered stolen valuables worth R70 lakh.

Guddu had stabbed Shagufta Khan (32), a resident of Rustomjee tower at Marve Road, Malad (West), in the neck on Tuesday and robbed her valuables, including gold and diamond jewellery, worth R70 lakh. Khan had been living in the house and raising her two daughters - Chiku (5) and Riya (11) - alone, since her previous relationship with Sonu Jhalam, a bookie, ended a year-and-a-half ago.

She had three affairs since then, including one with the owner of the Goregaon mobile shop where Guddu worked.

Police officials said the daughters had reached home from school when Guddu was stuffing the valuables into the bag and had seen their mother breathe her last. They said Guddu had tried to kill Riya, the elder sister, to avoid being identified, but had failed to do so.

According to Crime Branch officials, they had found out about Guddu's girlfriend, who used to work as a prostitute and live in Grant Road, and also that he had dropped her to her native country, Bangladesh, a couple of weeks ago. He had also given her some money and had told her he would come to Bangladesh in a few days after robbing Khan's home.

Armed with this information, Crime Branch officials set up traps for Guddu at Howrah station, the Nepal border and other possible escape routes. "Guddu took the Howrah Mail to go to Bangladesh via West Bengal. He had already talked to agents to get him across the border. However, our team had reached Howrah station at 4 am on Thursday and nabbed him from the train when it entered the station around 6 am. The valuables were also seized from him," said a Crime Branch official.

Also Read: Mumbai horror: Daughters see mom bleed to death after being stabbed

Police officials also said that Guddu had wanted to take a flight to Kolkata to make a speedy escape, but had decided against it as the high value of the booty would have attracted attention during the security check at the Mumbai and Kolkata airports.

Crime Branch officers suspect that Guddu's girlfriend from Bangladesh was also involved in planning the murder. They are trying to find her and are planning to take international help to nab her.