Extortion bid fails, nurse and brother beat her ‘lover’ to death, stuff body in drum, and dump it in Vasai nullah

Thane: Mumbra police have arrested a nurse and her brother for allegedly beating a civil engineer to death with PVC pipes, stuffing the body in a drum, and dumping it in a secluded nullah in Vasai, after their extortion bid went wrong.

Police said the nurse, who is married, was reportedly in a relationship with the victim, identified as Mumbra resident Arbaz Khan.

Mehjabin Sheikh and her brother Tariq Ikram Sheikh were arrested on May 7, while her husband Hassan and an associate, Mujazzam Talib Khan, are on the run, senior inspector Anil Shinde of Mumbra police station said.

On April 3, Arbaz, who was employed with a private firm in Dombivli, went to Dadar to collect work-related payment, his family said. When he failed to return, his father lodged a missing person’s complaint at Mumbra police station.

During investigation, police analysed Arbaz’s call detail records and traced his last location to Vasai. The probe revealed that Mehjabin, who had allegedly known Arbaz for three to four years, was in the same area on the day of his disappearance.

Police said preliminary investigations pointed to a financial dispute between the two. Mehjabin had allegedly given Arbaz money and was demanding its return. Investigators suspect that when the dispute escalated, she, along with her brother, husband and associate, allegedly hatched a plan to extort money from Arbaz and lured him to Vasai on the pretext of settling the matter.

“The accused allegedly tied his hands and legs and assaulted him with PVC pipes, resulting in his death. The body was then stuffed into a green drum and dumped in a secluded nullah under Valiv police station limits,” a police officer said.

Based on disclosures by the arrested accused, police recovered the body and registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Mehjabin and Tariq have been remanded in police custody till May 14.

Police said efforts are underway to trace Hassan and Mujazzam, who are suspected to be hiding in a northern state.