Three days after the body of a woman was found chopped into 13 pieces, the Navi Mumbai Police Crime Branch (Central Unit) has identified it as that of Sultana Niyaz Khan, 35, a resident of Panvel. The police have also arrested Mohammed Aziz Mohammed Ali Mujavar alias Haji, 25, with whom the victim had been in a relationship, for allegedly murdering her.
Sultana’s body was identified after her brother approached the police on Friday to file a missing person complaint. Police said Sultana had separated from her husband a few years ago, and was living in a rented apartment in Sukhapur, Panvel with her three children. They said she had been in a relationship with Mujavar for two years.
According to the police, she would stay with Mujavar in his rented room during the day. When Sultana, who originally hailed from Akola, did not return home on December 27, her eldest daughter, 15, informed Sultana’s brother who stays in a lodge nearby. Her brother waited for two days for Sultana to return before approaching the police, where was told about the unidentified mutilated body.
DCP Dilip Sawant, Navi Mumbai Police, said, “Sultana’s brother identified her from the clothes found at the spot where the body parts were recovered. Once the victim was identified, our investigation received a major boost. We learnt about her affair with Mujavar, an auto driver, and nabbed him on Saturday.” He added that Mujavar had hacked her head into pieces as well, which made it difficult to identify her.
Sultana, police said, had three children: two daughters aged 15 and six, and a son aged 10. Although separated from her husband, she had not gone in for a divorce. “We do not have any information on the whereabouts of her husband, but we hope to get more details about their relation when we question him,” Mr. Sawant said.
Mujavar, who originally hails from Karnataka, confessed to his crime during interrogation. He said he had suspected Sultana was having affairs with other men too, and had murdered her. A month ago, Mujavar had shifted to another rented apartment at Chota Khanda in Panvel. Police said he had called Sultana to this rented room and killed her on Tuesday evening when she was asleep.
Mr. Sawant said Mujavar had stabbed her with a sickle first, and later chopped her into 13 pieces using an axe. Both weapons are yet to be recovered. He then placed the chopped body in four plastic bags, and used a fifth bag for her clothes and undergarments. “Mujavar drove to a less-frequented area near Simran Motors in Panvel in his auto-rickshaw, where he dumped the bags.”
The accused has been arrested under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence). The police are also investigating if the accused had moved rooms as part of his murder plan. The incident came to light when the owner of a mango farm near Simran Motors had found the plastic bags dumped by Mujavar.
The writer is a freelance journalist
