Mumbai: Man kills wife’s step-brother over suspected affair

Foster mother Reshma Putran showing a picture of Ishwar; Shafiq Shaikh; Sana Shaikh with her mother

A 28-year-old auto-rickshaw driver has been arrested by the RCF police for killing a 17-year-old and chopping his body into pieces, as he suspected the teenager of having an affair with his wife.

According to the police, the deceased, Ishwar Marwadi, was adopted by the alleged killer Shafiq Shaikh's in-laws when he was six years old. He grew up with Shaikh's wife Sana, 28 and was treated like family.

The incident took place on Monday when Shaikh called Marwadi to his house to have a word with him. The two began to argue after Shaikh accused him of having an affair with Sana and one of her younger sisters. Following a heated argument, Shaikh attacked Marwadi with a sickle and killed him.

According to the police, Shaikh then started chopping up the body in order to dispose of it. "Sana was at her parents' house which is close by and informed Shaikh that she was heading home, but he asked her to stay there and even offered to send clothes for her and their 14-month-old child. When Sana landed up at her house, Shaikh refused to let her enter the kitchen where he had started cutting up the body," said an officer from RCF police station.

The police said there was a drastic change in Shaikh's behaviour which led Sana's family to suspect something is amiss. "Whenever they inquired with him about Marwadi since he was the last person to be seen with him, Shaikh gave evasive answers. Sana's parents started keeping a close watch on Shaikh and confronted him about Marwadi's disappearance, after which he confessed to the murder and was brought to the police station," the officer added.

During interrogation, Shaikh told the police that he had kept the body in his bathroom and was planning to get rid of it by cutting it into pieces. The police team rushed to the spot and recovered six to seven body parts from Shaikh's house. They found that both the arms were separated from the torso and the head was completely smashed while the legs were attached to the lower part of the body, chopped below the hip. The body parts were handed over to a forensic team for further investigations.

According to Sana, Shaikh was otherwise a very loving person, but he had issues with Marwadi. "My father brought Ishwar home when I was just 12 and I have been tying him a rakhi since then. He was just like a friend. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my husband suspected me for our relationship. This is disgusting… I don't even want to see my husband's face now."

Reshma Putran, foster mother of Marwadi, said, "Ishwar was abandoned by his father when he was just 6. My husband and I brought him up as our own son. When my daughter married Shaikh, I even considered him a son and helped him get a rented room in our locality by mortgaging my jewellery. But that devil chopped my son into pieces. Today I lost two sons."

"We have booked Shafiq for the murder. He confessed. We have also learnt that he was jailed for murder in Uran in 2013," said Shashikant Karpe, senior inspector, RCF police station.