Man who smashed girlfriend’s head with stone held

Mumbai: D N Nagar police on Thursday nabbed Allah Raka, suspected to have killed a 25-year-old woman at an open plot at Andheri (W) last Saturday. The suspect fled after police found Aashma Shaikh’s body with her face smashed with a stone. A police team has left with Raka from Gulbarga in Shahapur, Karnataka, on Thursday. Raka suspected that Shaikh had stolen Rs10,000 from him after “consensual sex”.
Police, who had also detained Asif, will question both before formally arresting them on Friday.
Passers-by had on January 19 morning found Shaikh’s body at Wireless Compound, near Khubchandani Hospital. “The victim only had a pair of trousers. People from the vicinity, acquainted with her, identified her. Police believe she may have been killed at night after a dispute. The accused seemed to have tried to disfigure her face but there was no sexual assault. A preliminary probe revealed that Raka and Shaikh were drunk,” police said.
Raka fled on learning that police had identified Shaikh and registered a murder case. Additional commissioner of police (west) Manoj Sharma supervised zonal DCP Paramjit Singh Dahiya, who led four teams to track down Raka. “Raka fled to a sensitive area in Aurangabad, where even local police do not dare enter. He stayed at his step-mother’s house before he sensed the police’s arrival and fled 30 minutes before a raid there,” police said.
Raka went to Nagpur before fleeing to Gulbarga. “One team reached Gulbarga after keeping track of his call data records and found he was in touch with Hussain at Gulbarga. He is repeatedly changing his statements. His role will be confirmed after interrogation, on reaching Mumbai,” police said.
Shaikh, a housemaid who lived with her mother near Gilbert Hill, was at home till 8.30pm on January 18. Police said her mother thought she would be in the neighbourhood. They said Shaikh had spent time with her boyfriend, who went missing after her murder.