Cops say lifeguard Mithu Singh knows an inaccessible marshy spot at Bandstand from a 2016 rescue and might have dumped MBBS student’s body there
A selfie of accused Singh with the victim
Mithu Singh, who was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a third-year MBBS student, confessed to killing her and dumping her body near Bandra Bandstand. He also told the cops that his friend Abdul Jabbar Ansari, another arrested accused in the case, helped him commit the crime. Mumbai Crime Branch Unit 09 officers took both the accused to Bandstand on Thursday and recreated the scene. Cops said they have some leads about the body, but did not reveal any further details. They said they will add charges of murder to the case soon.
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Crime Branch team and forensic experts with Mithu Singh at Bandstand where he took a photo with Sane
Based on Singh’s confession, Mumbai Crime Branch Unit 09 officers took him to the scene of crime on Thursday, said an officer privy to the investigation. A team of 20 officers along with Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection 1) Krishna Kant Upadhyay, who has been monitoring the case closely, reached Bandra Bandstand at 12.30 pm. Forensic experts and cops searched Singh’s house and then he was taken to the rocks where he had taken a photo with the deceased at 3 am on November 29, 2021. Sources claimed that Singh has narrated the sequence of the events of that night including how he killed the woman. The cops suspect that the body is buried or dumped somewhere at Bandstand, as the location of both the accused on the day of the incident was there, as per technical evidence.
Also Read: Mumbai: Crime branch suspects rape in MBBS student kidnapping case
Singh was grilled for more than two hours and then taken back to the Unit 09 office in Bandra. Hours later, the second accused, Ansari, was taken to his house, which is less than a 100 metres from the crime scene. The officers searched his house for more than one hour. He was taken to the terrace of his house and questioned.
Abdul Ansari, too was brought to Bandstand
Crime Branch officers have also made panchnama at the spot and the houses of both the accused. An officer said, “We cannot reveal the details at this stage as we are collecting evidence to connect the dots. However, we are now sure that the woman was murdered. We will soon invoke Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code in the case.”
Meanwhile, sources told mid-day that some construction took place at Ansari’s house a year and a half ago, which is close to the time of the incident. However, his family members said there has not been any construction work at the house for the past five years.
‘Dumped body in sea’
Crime Branch officers have confirmed that the accused confessed to dumping the woman’s body in the sea. The accused has told police that on January 9, 2016, three women were swept away at Bandstand. At the time, one Ramesh had jumped in and rescued two of them but when he tried to save the third woman, he too died. While Ramesh’s body was found the next day in Mahim, the woman’s body was not found.
Crime Branch officers at the terrace of another accused Abdul Jabbar Ansari’s residence on Thursday
“We have spoken to the family of the woman who died in 2016 and they confirmed the fact,” an officer said. The officers said that Singh revealed this and said that since he was aware of the spot, he used the same location to dump the MBBS student’s body after killing her. Cops are still grilling him about the possible motive, and prima facie, they suspect that the woman was raped and then killed by Singh, and his friend Ansari helped him dump her body.
“We have called divers from the Indian Navy to search for the body in the sea. We couldn’t do that on Thursday because of the high tide, but will launch a search operation on Friday after speaking to the weather department,” an officer added.
Nov 29
Day in 2021 when the woman went missing
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