Navi Mumbai Additional Commissioner of Police Deepak Sakore said that the prime suspect – nabbed from Karnataka for the murder of a 22-year-old Belapur girl - has confessed to committing the crime, here on Tuesday.
Sakore said that the suspect, Dawood M. Shaikh was nabbed by a Navi Mumbai police team from Shahapur hills in Gulbarga district, is being brought to Mumbai for further investigations soon.
"As per the preliminary questioning by the police, he has admitted to killing the girl... More details including the motive, shall emerge after we properly interrogate him here," Sakore told media persons.
The Navi Mumbai Police, deploying tech intel, tracked and arrested Shaikh, a professional driver early on Tuesday, for the gruesome killing of Yashashri Shinde, whose mutilated body was found late on the night of July 26 in the bushes near the Uran railway station.
As the incident snowballed into a huge political row, the Navi Mumbai Police formed eight probe teams which were hot on Shaikh's trail, though he had gone incommunicado for the past three days after fleeing from here to Karnataka.
Sakore said that from the preliminary autopsy, it has been concluded that the victim died of multiple stab wounds, but her face may have been disfigured by dogs or some other animals in the vicinity.
On July 25, Yashashri left her home in Belapur ostensibly to meet a friend but failed to return, after which her family lodged a missing complaint.
According to Sakore, the victim had gone to meet Shaikh, who lived in Uran for the past several years, and they had been friends for 3-4 years, so the kidnap angle is ruled out.
On July 26 night, her body was found in a mutilated state with multiple injuries and the family immediately accused Shaikh, and the Navi Mumbai lodged a FIR early on July 27, he said.
On Monday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Ambadas Danve and Kishori Pednekar, besides the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party's leaders Kirit Somaiya and MLA Mahesh Baldi, called on the family of Yashashri Shinde to express solidarity and assure justice for their daughter; while MLA Nitesh Raut will visit today.
Shaikh has a previous criminal record, including a 2019 complaint by the deceased girl for molestation, and a crime under the POCSO Act, for which he was out on bail.
(With inputs from IANS)
