Mumbai: A petty fight and a grudge over it led to a man chopping off both hands of his friend’s daughter and killing her.
On April 1, Payal Prasad (4) went missing while playing in a garden near her house at Roshan Baug in Bhiwandi. Four days later on April 4, her body was found just 300 metres away with hands chopped and head shaven. After registering a case, the Bhiwandi Bhoiwada police began a probe and started questioning the victim’s family if they were involved in any fights in the recent past.
It emerged that one Mohammad Shaikh owed the victim’s father, Mahadev, a stall owner, Rs 1,500 and when Shaikh did not return the money, Mahadev had an altercation with Shaikh and beat him up badly.
When the police went to question Shaikh, they found him missing. Acting on a tip-off, the police formed three teams and sent them to Shaikh’s hometown in Ganeshpur, Bihar. Shaikh was arrested, following which he confessed to killing Payal in a fit of rage.
DCP Sunil Bhardwaj said, “The accused was arrested from Bihar, and he had committed a crime of revenge in order to teach the victim’s father, Mahadev, a lesson.”
The Bhoiwada police has booked Shaikh under sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to murder and disappearance of evidence.
