Headless body case: 2021’s most chilling murder solved after 13 months

Saniya and Asif Shaikh

Saniya Shaikh, the woman whose headless body was found in a trolley bag, on Vasai's Bhuigaon beach on July 26 last year, had allegedly been in the crosshairs of her husband and in-laws who wanted to hand over her daughter to her childless sister-in-law. To date, the victim's husband, his elder brother, his father and his brother-in-law have been arrested in the grisly murder case.

During their ongoing interrogation, the accused revealed to the Vasai police that they had tied Saniya's hands and legs, drowned her in a tub of water, strangled her and, to make sure she was dead, her husband Asif and father-in-law Hanif decapitated her.

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The bag in which her body was found last year. Pics/Hanif Patel

"Initially, Asif started to slit her throat but after a few minutes he gave up and fainted, but his father took over and finished the job," said the police. In a bid to conceal her identity, the killers used an electric trimmer to shear off her long hair, said an officer privy to the investigation.

"There was a mole on her upper lip. He thought if it were removed, her identity would be permanently hidden even if the head were found by the police. So, Asif scooped it off before stuffing the head into a plastic bag, which he disposed of in the Khaniwade creek. He rode pillion while his elder brother Yaseen ferried him via bike to the site," said an officer.

After throwing the head into the creek from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, the brothers returned home, said another officer.

The blood-chilling incident took place on July 21, 2021, which happened to be Bakra Eid. The officer said, "Asif had called his brother-in-law Yusuf, a cab driver who lives in Mumbra, requesting him to bring his four-wheeler so that the body could be disposed of easily. After Yusuf came, they stuffed the corpse into a trolley bag and drove to the creek."

Asif Shaikh in police custody. Pics/Hanif Patel

The accused then allegedly cleaned the blood-splattered floor and changed their clothes. They also celebrated the festival in the evening and their main bone of contention was eliminated as they all wanted to hand over the baby girl Amaira to Yusuf, said the officer.

"It was a planned murder because, on the day Saniya was killed, her in-laws had sent Amaira to Mumbra to celebrate the festival with her aunt, the wife of Yusuf," said senior inspector Kalyanrao Karpe of Vasai police station.

The deceased's uncle Javed Shaikh told mid-day that after Amaira was born, her in-laws would insist that Saniya give her daughter to her sister-in-law. "They would always pressurise her and tried to snatch her baby girl. During the pandemic, when Asif was stuck in Dubai, Hanif assaulted Saniya in Nalasopara. She even approached the Achole police station but after the intervention of relatives, no case was registered," said Javed.

Asif and Saniya Shaikh

Saniya's parents passed away when she was a child and she was brought up by her uncle in the Belgaum district of Karnataka. Javed said, "We last spoke to her on July 8, 2021, as her grandmother passed away that day. We had been trying to contact her and Asif but her phone was always switched off and Asif would disconnect the calls saying it was a wrong number. Since we live in Belgaum, and it was tough to travel during the pandemic, we could not reach Mumbai immediately."

Saniya's family was disturbed as they were unable to talk to her for the past year. But in August this year, they finally visited Nalasopara. "I learnt that Asif and his family had sold out the property and shifted somewhere else. Shocked, I went to the Achole police station and the cops dialled Asif's number but he did not respond. After poring over my phonebook I found Asif's mother's number. So, I dialled her and, luckily, she picked up," Javed recalled.

Hanif Shaikh and Saniya Shaikh

"Asif's mother revealed that the family had sold the Nalasopara property and shifted to Mumbra. She mentioned a marriage hall as a landmark near their new residence and we rushed there immediately," he said.

"Though I saw Amaira there, Saniya was not to be seen. When I asked Asif about her, he claimed she had eloped with someone and had been untraceable for the past year. Rattled, I went to the Mumbra police station to register an FIR. The cops suggested I visit Achole police station in Nalasopara and the police helped me register a missing person's complaint there on August 29," he said.

The police then showed him the photographs of the bag in which the body was found. Saniya's relatives identified the decomposed body based on her dress sense.

The Vasai police then called her husband and in-laws to identify the corpse but they refused, according to Karpe.

The body language of Saniya's husband and in-laws was a little suspicious, but the police did not arrest them and opted for DNA profiling. "We had preserved the DNA samples of the body. So, the DNA samples of Saniya's husband and daughter were collected and sent to the Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina. The samples matched. We first arrested Asif who named his accomplices after he was grilled," Karpe said.

Now, all the accused have been remanded in police custody till September 22. The police are yet to find the murder weapon and the vehicles used in disposing of the body and head.

The police had been struggling to solve the case for months. The zonal DCP Sanjay Kumar Patil had formed six teams of officers comprising inspectors Hrishikesh Pawal, Abdulhaq Desai, APIs Ram Survase, Sunil Pawar, Sagar Chavan and PSI Vishnu Waghmode, constables Sunil Malavkar, Vinod Patil, Milind Gharat, Sharad Patil, Vinayak Kachare and others.

The Vasai police had installed 150 large banners and posters at all the police stations in the MBVV police commissionerate, railway stations and public spots in a bid to identify the body.

MBVV commissioner Sadanand Date said, "Our Vasai PS team and DCP Zone 2 have worked diligently and persistently. We have to also acknowledge that we got the breakthrough after the relatives approached the police. Finally, the evidence, especially the DNA test, gave us a good footing to take the investigation to its logical conclusion. Now the work ahead of us of course is to connect all the dots and present the circumstances for judicial assessment."