City police claimed to have cracked the kidnap-cum-murder case of a female infant with the arrest of a catering worker, who is the spurned lover of the victim’s mother.
The accused Mohammed Azgal Rehman was arrested for kidnapping and murdering one-and-half-month old Afreen Shaikh, whose decomposed body was found last Thursday.
Afreen had gone missing on December 14 early morning when she was sleeping with her parents, who are pavement dwellers, at Bhau Daji Road in Sion Circle.
The Sion police were immediately informed by the girl’s mother Chandini Kareem Shaikh and FIR was registered on the charges of kidnapping.
On Thursday, locals spotted the baby’s highly decomposed body near a bridge in Sion area.
Police Crime branch began a parallel probe.
“We were completely clueless initially. We sifted through the footages of CCTVs installed in the area for the leads in the case. In one of the CCTV footages of a housing society, a man was seen sneaking away with the girl. But the footage was too blurred to identify the culprit,” said Sanjeev Bhole, senior inspector with Crime Branch Unit IV.
While they were extensively searching for the suspect, they were tipped off that the accused was Mohammed Rehman, who does catering work.
When Rehman was picked up, he confessed to the crime and claimed that because of the girl, he began facing trouble in his alleged relationship with Chandini.
“As Chandini was allegedly avoiding him after conceiving the child and began devoting time to her child and husband, Mohammed Rehman conspired to eliminate her to clear his route,” said another officer.
On December 14 at about 4 am, Mohammed, who was in a drunken state, took the girl away to an isolated location before dashing her on the ground, causing her death, police said.
“The accused was handed over to Sion police which formally placed him under arrest,” officer Bhole said.
