Missing MBBS student case: Cops suspect Singh lied about spot where he dumped body

Divers carry out a search operation at Bandra Bandstand. File pic

Mumbai crime branch's Unit 09, which is probing the alleged murder of an MBBS student from JJ medical college, has not found any evidence to prove that she is dead. Mithu Singh, one of the arrested accused in the case, has confessed to killing the young woman and dumping her body in the sea, but the same is not admissible before the court. Cops, who have been carrying out extensive search operations at Bandra Bandstand to find the body, now suspect that Singh lied about the spot where he dumped her body in November 2021.

The crime branch arrested two people - main accused Singh and his friend Abdul Jabbar Ansari - in January this year. Both are in judicial custody and lodged in Arthur Road jail. An officer privy to the developments said, "We are sure that Singh killed the woman. There is strong circumstantial evidence. We are now making all efforts to find her skeleton to make a water-tight case against the duo. We will find a charge sheet soon."

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Cops have carried out search operations inside the sea with the help of leading divers from the Indian Navy, ONGC and marine divers from National Defence Academy who have been used by CBI in various cases. In 2020, the same batch of divers dug out from Thane creek a pistol that was used to kill rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in 2013 and communist leader Govind Pansare in 2015. "We kept searching the creek for a week and finally managed to locate the firearm. We are hopeful that we will find something here as well," said one of the divers searching for the student's body and belongings at Bandstand.

Crime branch officers said that they wanted to repeat the narco-analysis test of the accused with the help of leading panellists who have expertise in such scientific tests. "However, the accused didn't give their consent as they are scared that truth will prevail," the cop said.

The lawyers of both accused have claimed that the police tortured them to get the confession and added that a narco test has already been conducted but cops didn't find anything. "If the test was not done properly then why are the cops not taking action against the doctors who have done it? Why should my brother go through such a life-threatening test again and again just because the police are not getting the answers as they want?" said the sister of an accused.

She added, "When we went to the prison, we asked him about the confession. My mother said that he has not confessed to anything. Whatever he said was because he was beaten up inside the police station and was forced to make such a confession. He still says that he has no idea where the woman went after they met at Bandstand."

Unit 09 of Mumbai crime branch has been probing the case since the past 14 months and made the arrests earlier this month for allegedly kidnapping the woman. The cops later added Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) against Singh and Ansari.