3-year-old girl raped, murdered at Cuffe Parade

MUMBAI: The body of a three-year-old girl was found floating in the sea near Maker Towers at Cuffe Parade on Thursday morning. The girl went missing from her house in Ambedkar Nagar between Wednesday midnight and 2 am on Thursday. Her father, Rajeev Sharma, has emerged as the prime suspect in the case.
Post-mortem reports on Thursday evening showed that the girl was sexually violated before being murdered too.
The police said she lived with her great grandparents. Her parents had married in 2008 and divorced a year later. Her mother, Suzzane (23), had remarried last year and was staying with her new husband in the Shiv Shakti Nagar chawls, also in Cuffe Parade. According to neighbours, both parents would visit the girl occasionally but she was attached to her aged guardians.
The police said Rajeev and Suzzane had an argument two days ago about the girl’s custody. “Suzzane told him he could take care of her if he wanted too or else she would take charge of the child. He allegedly threatened her and said she would see how he took care of the child,” said assistant commissioner of police (Colaba division) Iqbal Shaikh.
Shaikh added that his threat, coupled with the fact that he has been absconding since morning, has forced them to make him the prime suspect.
The girl’s great grandmother said she was playing in the house till midnight, after which the family went to sleep. She woke up a few hours later and discovered the child was missing.
“They searched the area for about two hours and then lodged a missing person’s complaint with the police. Her mother was notified in the morning after the body was found,” said Shaikh.
Earlier, two girls of similar age were found murdered in the area. Their bodies were found in an abandoned compound in Cuffe Parade last November and this January.
The police have been unable to make a breakthrough in those cases.