Mystery of body in bag in Mumbai

The police officers who collectively solved the murder by relying on old-fashioned deduction

Zone VI police officers, including the Trombay cops, have cracked the murder of a woman whose body was discovered in a sack near the Mumbai Metro car shed on August 24 in Mankhurd.

Despite assembling teams from various police stations to scan CCTV footage and analyse mobile phone data, no clues emerged, even though the culprits were just 200-300 metres from where the body was found. Finally, after zeroing in on the accused, the deceased was identified as Reshma Jaiswal, a resident of Maharashtra Nagar, Mankhurd. The police have arrested her husband, Kanhaiya Lal Jaiswal; his brother, Ashok Jaiswal; a relative of the deceased, Ravi Srivastav; and his mother and sister, Munni and Reshma Srivastav. The victim was allegedly having an affair with Ravi.

The body, which was wrapped in three layers and disposed of in a sack 300 metres away from one of the alleged killers' house on August 24

The case

At 10.40 am on Saturday, a vegetable vendor told the police that he noticed the sack near his shop around 7 am but didn't realise it contained a body until three hours later when a foul smell emanated from it. The police then swung into action and the body was taken to Rajawadi Hospital. "We formed multiple teams and began piecing together evidence," said Satyanarayan Chaudhary, joint commissioner, law and order.

The police visited nearby stations and interviewed various suspects, but didn't find any clues. There were no operational CCTV cameras at the crime scene while the camera at the T Junction was down due to ongoing work. Despite the efforts of multiple teams working in different areas, nothing substantial was discovered by Saturday evening. However, a witness informed the police that he had passed the location at 2 am without noticing anything unusual.

Hemraj Singh Rajput, DCP, Zone VI, then instructed his teams to focus on human intelligence, as the body must have been dumped at the spot between 2 am and 7 am. "We were then confident about this, so we decided to recreate the scene during that timeframe," an officer said.

A search was then launched in Mankhurd to identify anyone present in the time frame. Teams were dispatched to question shopkeepers and auto and cab drivers. An auto driver near T Junction told the police he had dropped a family off at Mankhurd station and their clothes were dirty, despite saying they were headed to a temple.

The police then examined CCTV footage from the station to learn that three individuals, including two women, changed their clothes outside the station around 3.30 am. They were later identified as Ravi, Munni and Reshma Srivastav. When the police located their residence in Mankhurd, a relative informed the officers that they had gone to work. The police eventually arrested them and learnt that the women had helped Ravi dispose of the body.

August 21
Day murder occurred

1. According to the police, Reshma Jaiswal was killed on August 21 by her husband, brother-in-law and lover, Ravi. Her spouse and his brother held her hands and legs while Ravi hit her on the head with a grinding stone

2. The accused arranged the body in a squatting position before planning how to dispose of it. According to the police, the motive behind the murder may have stemmed from a family dispute, as all the individuals involved were relatives

3. The body was kept in the home of Ravi for three days and the latter even slept next to it. After he was caught, Ravi told the police Reshma had pressured him to marry her and leave his wife, threatening to file a rape case against him if he didn't comply

4. The corpse was wrapped in a sack and dumped near the Metro construction site in Mankhurd on August 24

5. Investigators spoke with an auto-rickshaw driver who had a regular pickup near T Junction. The driver had dropped a family off at Mankhurd railway station

6. Following this lead, the police team examined CCTV footage from the railway station and discovered footage of three suspects, leading to the nabbing of the individuals. "The Zone VI team has done commendable work by solving the case purely on human intelligence within 24 hours after it was reported to us," said Satyanarayan Chaudhary, joint commissioner, law and order.