A 50-year-old woman and her two grandchildren were found stabbed to death in their residence in Malwani, Malad on Thursday morning. The absence of signs of forced entry into the house has led the police to believe the killer was known to the victims, and investigations have begun.
According to the Malwani police, the victims have been identified as Babli Shaw and her grandchildren Aryan Sheikh (13) and Sanya Sheikh (8). The police said all three were stabbed to death and a dagger, believed to have been used in the murder, has been recovered from the house.
Ms Shaw, who hails from West Bengal, used to stay with her daughter Afsa’s children in the Collector Compound in Malwani. Officials said Afsa had married Ismail Sheikh, also a Malwani resident. Afsa passed away some years ago, after which her children began to stay with Ms. Shaw, while Ismail married someone else.
“Ms. Shaw would wake up at dawn to fill water, and when she failed to show up at the public taps on Thursday, her neighbours were concerned. When repeated knocking on her door elicited no response, they called up her nephew Sanjay. He reached the house at 10.30 am. The house has a safety door and an inner door. Sanjay reached inside through the bars of the safety door and pushed the inner door. Babli, Aryan and Sanya were seen lying in a pool of blood on the floor inside,” said an officer with the Malwani police.
Sanjay called the police control room and the information was relayed to the Malwani police. Since the doors to the house were not forced open, the police believe the killer was known to the victims.
Officials said Ms. Shaw owns a significant amount of property in West Bengal and had recently made a lot of money from the sale of one of them. She was heard discussing the procedure for hiring bank lockers with her neighbours a few days earlier, and the police are investigating whether the murder motive stems from this. “It is possible the trio were drugged before being stabbed, as there would have been some noise if they were stabbed while conscious,” said Senior PI Milind Khetle, Malwani police station.
The writer is a freelance journalist
