Achieving their first breakthrough, the Mumbai police arrested one person in connection with the mysterious triple rape-murder case that has terrorised the Nehru Nagar locality in suburban Kurla for the past few months.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal said following forensic evidence, Javed Rehman Shaikh, 20, was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl on June 6. His DNA samples matched with the DNA found on the victim's nail clippings and other material collected from her body.
Prior to the June 6 incident, Nehru Nagar was rattled by the rape and murder of two more girl children. The first incident took place on February 9, when the body of a five-year-old girl was found in a drain and the other on March 7, when a nine-year-old girl was found raped and murdered on the terrace of a building. The previous incidents are still to be detected. Public ire was high and there was a lot of pressure on the police to nab the culprit. The police had launched a massive investigation and collected over a hundred DNA samples of people who frequented the victims' houses.
“We had decided to work on the people who had access to various houses, which included the Internet and cable service men. Javed's DNA sample was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory on June 23,” Mr. Dayal said.
Javed is a class ten pass out with no known criminal record. He lived in the neighbourhood and fixed cables and collected dues in the area. The police had released a sketch based on the description by a person who was attacked by the accused.
Questions are being raised if Javed had necrophilia. Mr. Dayal, however, maintained that he was of sound mind. He was produced before the court on Thursday and remanded to 14-day police custody.
Heavy police deployment continues in Nehru Nagar. Mr. Dayal said there would be no scaling down of the security apparatus. Citizens and non-government organisations played a big role in assisting the police, the commissioner added.
According to forensic reports, the DNA samples from the bodies of the first two victims belong to a single person.
