Man held for Goregaon teenager’s murder

The Versova police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the murder of a 19-year-old woman whose body, stuffed in a gunny bag, washed ashore on Versova beach on Thursday. The police said the man, Mohammad Shahzeb Ansari (23), is a resident of Prem Nagar in Goregaon West. He is pursuing a Company Secretary course, and his father runs a bakery shop on rent.

The police said they made enquiries about the friends of the deceased and zeroed in on Ansari. On questioning, he agreed that she stayed in the neighbourhood and was his friend. He told the police that she was threatening to lodge a police complaint against him. On the day of the incident (April 25), the woman had visited Ansari’s residence when he was alone at home. The police said both had an argument, following which the accused strangulated her using the internet cable. He then went out and bought a gunny bag from a nearby shop.

He allegedly tied the woman’s body and stuffed it inside the bag. Later, he borrowed a two-wheeler from his friend and dumped the body in a creek at Malad. Senior police inspector Siraj Inamdar from Versova police station said, “We have an eyewitness who saw a man with a gunny bag on a two-wheeler near the crime scene.” On Thursday, the body was found near Barista Lane on JP Road. It was decomposed and the limbs were tied with a cable. After checking the recent missing persons complaints, the victim was identified as a college student from Goregaon and had been reported missing by her parents on Tuesday. She had passed her HSC and was preparing for NEET exams, the police said. She had left her Goregaon home at around 4 pm on Monday to attend her coaching classes, but instead went to a friend’s residence in the neighbourhood and left from there at 9 pm. After 11 pm, however, her phone was switched off, the police said.