On December 17, the dead body of a 27-year-old woman was found near Gadi river. The deceased woman has been identified as Urvi Vaishnav, who went missing from her residence in the Kopar Khairane area on December 13.
Originally from Rajasthan’s Bundi, Urvi used to work as a waitress in a Hotel in Mumbai for the past 6 to 7 years.
The family of the deceased victim has alleged that her live-in partner Riyaz Khan killed her and has thrown her body near a secluded place.
DCP Amit Kale, Crime branch, Navi Mumbai, informed that “The incident took place on December 12, 2022. We found the body of a woman between the age of 25 and 30 near a bridge. A murder case was then filed at the Panvel police station. Unit 2 of the Navi Mumbai crime branch investigated the case and discovered some physical evidence.
“The evidence gathered revealed that the girl went to a sandal shop with a friend. She was seen with Riyaz in a CCTV footage of a shop in Vashi. During the course of the investigation, we discovered that the accused man previously worked as a gym trainer. We looked into the case further and checked several gyms in the area before locating the man in Ghansoli. We began by taking the co-accused Imran Shaikh into custody. He then told us about the main suspect, who was later apprehended,” DCP Kale detailed.
Urvi was found wearing a pair of branded sandals. Police had traced the shop and had seen Urvi visiting the shop in Vashi with the accused Riyaz in the CCTV footage of the shop taken about 8 days prior to her disappearance. Since Riyaz looked like a bodybuilder, they started inquiring around in local gyms.
Rajasthan woman Urvi Vaishnav found dead in Navi Mumbai. Urvi’s family has accused live-in-partner Riyaz Khan of killing her. pic.twitter.com/Gyc2qo7G53
— Nakshab (@your_nakshab) December 21, 2022
According to police, the deceased woman and the accused were in a relationship. The accused is already married, and the woman was pressurising him to marry her. Due to this, accused Riyaz Khan strangled the woman and dumped her body in a secluded area.
As per reports, the main accused Riyaz Khan already has 3 wives.
Ravindra Patil senior inspector, Unit 2 Crime Branch said that the co-accused Imran Shaikh who was arrested from Govandi has confessed to having helped Riyaz to dump the victim’s body in the Gadi river.
Reportedly, Urvi used to stay in Kopar Khairane with her 2 brothers Paras and Ayush. She became friends with accused Riyaz Khan. The duo entered into a live-in relationship.
According to media reports, Urvi used to call her brother every evening around 5 pm, but on December 13, Paras did not receive her call and became worried. Urvi’s brothers, Paras and Ayush, filed a missing complaint at the Nerul Police Station on December 14.
On December 19, Paras and Ayush were called by Panvel Police Station to identify a dead body discovered near a canal. Urvi’s body was identified by her brothers. Her body was later returned to her hometown in Rajasthan, where her last rites were performed.
