Three people were arrested by the Malad police on Saturday for killing a 69-year-old woman, Marie D’Costa, during a robbery at a Malad residential community. The domestic help of the victim and two other people have been arrested in connection with the case, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 11), Ajay Bansal.
Shabnam Parvin Shaikh (between 42-45) and Shahzad Umar Shaikh (26) were taken into custody from the same area while Umar Shaikh (71) was apprehended from Vasai.
Shabnam is a domestic helper who had long been employed by the victim Marie D’Costa. Umar is a driver with three wives, and Shahzad is his son from his third wife. Umar was currently living with Shabnam. Shabnam is divorced, and Umar is living with her at her residence in the vicinity of Malwani Gate No. 7 with Shahzad and her daughter Afreen.
The deceased, who had retired ten years prior, lived with her 26-year-old grandson Neel Raibole at the New Life Cooperative Housing Society in Malad (West).
The police reported that Shabnam was taken in by D’costa after she found the former on the streets. She had been a housekeeper at D’Costa’s place for more than 20 years. She frequently left work in between, only to come back. She used to work full-time at their house performing all the chores, including cooking, cleaning, and washing clothing, among other things. She was a reliable servant, and hence Raibole would pick and drop her every day because she had a deformity in one leg.
The police complaint disclosed that on Thursday night, Raibole got a call from a Regional Transport Office (RTO) agent who was assisting him with his learner’s licence. He was requested to share a One Time Password (OTP) for licencing authentication.
He asked the representative to contact his grandmother after he informed the latter that her mobile number was connected to his Aadhaar card, indicating that the OTP must have been sent to her number. The RTO employee informed him that he called the number but nobody picked up.
“Raibole works with a private firm in the Bandra Kurla Complex and was at work when the murder was committed on Thursday evening. He had applied for a driver’s learning license and the agent he had hired called him to ask for an OTP, which was part of the process,” stated an officer with the Malad police station.
“However, his Aadhar card is linked to D’Costa’s mobile number and he called her to ask her for the OTP. When several calls went unanswered, he called his neighbour and asked her to check on his grandmother,” he unveiled.
The neighbour was the only person with a key except for D’costa and Raibole. She went inside and was horrified to discover the elderly woman dead in the bathroom with her head inside a water bucket. She dialled Raibole who reached home in an hour and around the same time, Shabnam and Shahzad also arrived at the scene. They took D’Costa to the Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali, where she was pronounced dead prior to admittance.
The police were also informed and they initially registered an accidental death report. When Raibole looked at the society’s CCTV footage, he noticed that a man wearing a mask and toting a rucksack entered the building at 5:31 and left at 5:48. The unidentified suspect entered the room about the same time Shabnam and Shahzad left the house with the door ajar, as per him, who subsequently brought the incident to the police’s notice.
He suggested that based on the CCTV evidence, it appeared like Shabnam and Shahzad assisted the anonymous person in breaking into his home to commit the crime. Later, after learning about their sister’s murder, D’Costa’s sisters, who had travelled from Kuwait, searched the entire home along with Raibole.
They discovered that D’Costa’s two mobile phones, a watch, a gold chain, and other valuables worth a total of Rs 50,000 were missing.
“CCTV footage showed Shabnam and two men entering and leaving the building, and one of them was wearing a mask. We worked further on this lead and identified the two men as Umar and Shehzad. We found that Umar, who has three wives, was currently living with Shabnam in her Malwani residence, and that Shehzad is his son from his third wife,” revealed the officer.
Shabnam and Shehzad were found after Umar was questioned and taken from the Nallasopara home of his second wife on Saturday. They admitted to carrying out the murder with the intent to rob the house, but they were unable to make off with anything because only Raibole has the keys to the cupboards.
They were subsequently arrested and appeared in a local court on Sunday with charges stemming from sections 302 (murder), 397 (robbery or dacoity with intent to cause death or great bodily harm), and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police added that during questioning, the culprits admitted to suffocating D’Costa with a pillow and then forcing her head into a pail of water to drown her. “The three have been arrested on Saturday and a local court remanded them in police custody till April 26,” Ravi Adane, senior police inspector of Malad police station mentioned.
