Raped and then strangled to death, a three year old girl’s body was discovered floating in the sea near Maker Tower (L) in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, on Thursday morning..
A post mortem was conducted. “The report said she was raped and strangled. The body was thrown into the sea,” said a police officer.
Reportedly, the girl had gone missing from her house around 2 am and the family had approached the police around 4 am to register a missing person’s complaint. The body was found around 8.30 am after a person alerted the police.
“The girl lived with her mother’s grandparents in Ambedkar Nagar while her mother stayed with her second husband at Shiv Shakti Nagar. We suspect the woman’s first husband, who is also the girl’s father, to be involved in her death,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Colaba Division) Iqbal Shaikh. A driver with a delivery firm, the girl’s father is reportedly absconding. The 30-year-old is also said to be a resident of Ambedkar Nagar.
Shaikh said the police suspect his involvement in the crime after the girl’s mother revealed to them about a certain telephonic conversation with him two days after which the girl’s body was recovered. “A few days ago, she had called up her first husband and asked him if he wanted the custody of their daughter. She told him that she would sign the requisite papers but he refused and told her to wait for two days and see what happens. The girl was found dead two days later,” Shaikh said. “The girl was sleeping next to her great-grandmother, who claims that she woke up around 2 am to find her missing.”
Sources said platoons of State Reserve Police Force have been deployed at the Cuffe Parade police station, fearing violence by residents.
–PTI