A 20-year-old woman from Uran in Navi Mumbai was brutally murdered by a man known to her following a dispute over photographs and a request to accompany him to Bengaluru, according to police reports.
The accused, Dawood Shaikh, 23, was apprehended in Gulbarga, Karnataka, on Tuesday morning. This arrest came after the victim’s body was discovered with severe injuries in a bush, days after she went missing.
Shaikh, who traveled from Karnataka to Uran on July 23, met the victim at Juinagar railway station the following day. Tensions between the two escalated on July 25 when the woman insisted that Shaikh delete all her photos he had kept after he had already removed some from Facebook. Shaikh had also proposed that she accompany him to Bengaluru, a request she rejected.
In a fit of rage, Shaikh allegedly attacked the woman with a knife he had brought from Bengaluru. After committing the crime, he fled to Karnataka. The woman’s body was discovered early on July 27, following her parents’ report of her missing on July 25.
Post-murder, Shaikh reportedly contacted a friend in Bengaluru to transfer money to his account, which he later withdrew from an ATM kiosk in Panvel before fleeing the state.
The accused has a criminal history, including a 2019 case filed by the victim’s father under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Shaikh was released on bail and had since resumed contact with the victim.
Currently, Shaikh is in police custody for seven days following a court order in Raigad district. Additional charges under the SC/ST Atrocities Act have been filed against him. Police are working on building a strong case and will reconstruct the crime scene as part of the investigation.
Authorities have confirmed that there was no religious motive behind the crime, emphasizing that the relationship between Shaikh and the victim was personal.