Uran murder case: 23-year-old man arrested in Karnataka hills
The accused, Daud Shaikh, 23, was arrested Tuesday morning after a chase in the Shahapur hills near his hometown Kalaburagi, Karnataka
Navi Mumbai: Three days after the body of a 20-year-old woman was found near the Uran railway station, the police traced and arrested a 23-year-old man, who was hiding in the hills of northern Karnataka, for allegedly killing her.
The accused, Daud Shaikh, 23, was arrested Tuesday morning after a chase in the Shahapur hills near his hometown Kalaburagi, Karnataka. The Navi Mumbai police are coordinating with the Karnataka police to transport the accused to Mumbai for further investigation.
On July 27, Yashashree Shinde’s body was found in the bushes adjoining the Uran railway station with multiple injury marks and stab wounds. Her family had reported her missing on July 25 after she did not return home from work. Shaikh and Shinde had been in a relationship since 2019. However, Shinde’s family disapproved of the relationship.
Shaikh was found after eight police teams, comprising officials from the Navi Mumbai crime branch and the Uran police station, tracked call data records (CDR), interrogated both Shaikh’s and Shinde’s family members, and searched the hills in Shahapur after informers told them that he was hiding there.
“Based on the technical inputs and interrogation, it was established that the accused is likely to be in Karnataka,” said joint commissioner Deepak Sakore. “Thereon, two teams were deputed to Bengaluru and two teams were sent to Shahapur taluka. Besides Daud, there were four other suspects as well, and each of them was interrogated extensively. But eventually, based on the technical analysis, Daud is currently the sole accused and was arrested from Shahapur. He has confessed to the crime.”
A preliminary investigation by the Uran police after the identification of the body had revealed that Shinde had taken a half day at work on the day she went missing. “The deceased and accused were known to each other since their school days. Based on the investigation, it was ascertained that on the day she had gone missing, a meeting was planned with the accused, and something transpired that led to the murder. These aspects are to be investigated once the accused is brought to the city,” said Sakore.
Shinde’s family had earlier filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) against the accused. Shaikh was arrested and spent six months in jail. After securing bail, his family had relocated to Karnataka during Covid-19.
“However, a few days prior to the girl going missing, as per the accused’s CDR, he was in Uran on July 22, and his phone was switched off on July 25. These and many other technical aspects proved crucial in the detection of the crime,” said the ACP (crime Branch) Ajay Landge.
The police also rebutted social media claims that this was a case of “love jihad” after information circulated that Shinde’s face was disfigured and her body was subjected to gruesome assault. “There is no basis to term this case as love jihad,” said DCP (Crime Branch) Amit Kale. “As per the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, the main cause of death is stabbing. With regard to the disfiguring of her face, it is most likely the act of wild animals,” he added.