Teen girl found murdered at Navi Mumbai flat, maternal uncle held

Navi Mumbai: Taloja police arrested a 44-year-old man for the murder of a 17-year-old daughter of his wife's sister when she was alone at her apartment in the Cidco housing complex in Taloja Phase-2 on Friday afternoon.Pravin Bhagat, senior inspector of Taloja, said that the arrested accused has been identified as Mohammad Ayub Shahid Mistry, a tailor residing in Ulhasnagar, and the victim as Tamanna Shaikh, who resided with her mother, Asminabibi Shaikh (35), who works as a cook in various households. On Friday afternoon, the victim was alone at home as her mother went to work when the accused, Mistry, came to the apartment on the first floor of building number L-32 in Asawari Grahasankul in Sector 27, Taloja Phase-2. Mistry assaulted her on the head with a cooker, stabbed her in the neck with a kitchen knife, and escaped. When the teen's mother returned home around 4:45 pm, she found her daughter in a pool of blood and informed the police. The forensic van, fingerprint expert, and dog squad were summoned to the crime scene, and the cooker and knife with blood stains were collected as evidence.ACP (crime) Ajay Landge said, "Initially, the murder accused was unidentified as there was no witness to the crime. From the CCTV surveillance at the L-32 building, a suspect wearing a raincoat was spotted exiting the building in the afternoon, but his face was not visible. Hence, the relatives of the victim were summoned for inquiry, and they were shown the CCTV footage of the suspect. From the body language of the suspect, they claimed it was Mistry. Subsequently, six police teams were formed to trace Mistry. Within 12 hours, PI Sagar Nikam and his team, using technical expertise, traced Mistry and apprehended him at a bus stop in Taloja while he was attempting to escape to Ulhasnagar."SI Bhagat said, "The accused Mistry confessed to killing Tamanna. He claimed that when his wife and her sister were pregnant, they decided that if a son was born to his wife and a daughter was born to his wife's sister, they would solemnise their marriage when they became adults. However, over time, their relationship turned sour due to a monetary dispute. Hence, Tamanna's mother reneged on the marriage promise. As Mistry's son learnt about the marriage rejection and that Tamanna was receiving several other marriage proposals, and her mother was considering the one who was financially sound, Mistry's son suffered from mental stress. Hence, on Friday, Mistry went to the flat when Tamanna was alone and insisted on getting married to his son. As she refused, as told by her mother, Mistry fatally assaulted her. The accused Mistry will be produced before Panvel court for seeking his police custody remand."