It was May 14, 2006.
The severed remains, however, offered few clues about who the victim was and the case eventually went cold.
More than a decade later, a tip-off led Mumbai Police to two brothers — Firasat and Arshad Ali — who investigators alleged were behind the killing.
The breakthrough also revealed another link: Firasat was connected to a 1996 murder in Delhi. He and his other brother, Shah Nawaz, had been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a trader but had disappeared after securing bail during their appeal.
Nearly 30 years after the first murder, Delhi Police arrested Firasat and Shah Nawaz earlier this month, ending a trail that stretched across two cities and two murder cases.
The headless torso
Back in Bhindi Bazaar, with its maze of narrow lanes lined with chawls, dilapidated colonial-era buildings, Irani cafes and kite shops, investigators grappled with one question: who was the victim and was it a gang hit.
The area had long been associated with Mumbai’s underworld. Once linked to Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company, Bhindi Bazaar was by 2006 witnessing a changing crime landscape. Police said contract killings had become increasingly decentralised, with freelance hitmen replacing the tightly controlled networks of the past.
At the JJ Marg police station in South Mumbai, Gulabrao More, then an Assistant Sub-Inspector at Nagpada police station, joined the investigation.
But identifying the victim proved impossible. But after collecting and matching the DNA of the torso, the police drew a blank. DNA samples led nowhere and no missing person’s complaint matched the remains.
“The head, limbs… everything apart from the torso was chopped off, so the victim couldn’t be identified. It looked like the work of someone who knew what they were doing,” said a police officer.
Then, over a decade later, More — by then an inspector with MRA Marg police station — received a call from an informer while on his morning walk at Mahalaxmi Race Course.
The informer claimed he knew the identity of the victim and the killer.
“I was the first one to get the tip about the body. The deceased was Kishan Kharva, who would have been 57 years old at that time. The caller said that the killer was someone named Firasat and his brother,” More told The Indian Express.
Within days, Mumbai Police traced the brothers and arrested them. They refused to divulge anything about the crime, prompting investigators to trace Kharva’s family.
They found that Kharva lived in Kamathipura with his wife, Bansiben, and their four children. Police said Bansiben sold utensils door to door, often accepting old clothes in exchange. Once she had collected enough, she sold them to wholesale traders — including Firasat.
Suspicious, they questioned Bansiben. She eventually admitted to have allegedly hired the two men to kill her husband. “Kharva was addicted to alcohol and used to physically assault and abuse his wife besides frequently accusing her of infidelity. Owing to this, Bansiben gave a contract to kill her husband, paying Rs 2 lakh to Firasat and Irshad. Firasat murdered Kisan, dismembered the body, and disposed of the severed body parts at different locations,” said DCP (Crime Branch) Sanjeev Yadav in Delhi.
As investigators dug deeper into Firasat’s past, they uncovered a second murder case, dating back a decade before the Mumbai killing.
The 1996 killing
On September 27, 1996, Ishtiaq Ahmad, a 27-year-old wholesale clothes trader from Moradabad, had spent the day buying second-hand clothes in West Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar. “He and his brothers were at the market along with their neighbour from Moradabad, Shah Nawaz, also a clothes trader,” said a police officer.
But an argument broke out between Ishtiaq’s brother Sharafat Ali and Shah Nawaz over a saree they wanted to buy, which turned into a scuffle. “Shah Nawaz threatened us with dire consequences for taking that saree from him. He said he would be back,” Sharafat told the police in his complaint.
Hours later, around 4.30 pm, Ishtiaq heard a knock at the door of their rented room in Raghubir Nagar. It was Shah Nawaz with three men — including Firasat. “They forced their way in, armed with knives, and launched a deadly attack on the occupants,” said a police officer.
According to police reports, the attack resembled a gang hit. Police said Firasat and Shah Nawaz went for Ishtiaq while the others attacked his brothers.
“The injured men had been taken to DDU Hospital, where Ishtiaq succumbed to his injuries. Based on Sharafat’s statement, an FIR was registered. Murder charges were added after Ishtiaq’s death,” said DCP Yadav.
A trial court later convicted Shah Nawaz and Firasat and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
But in 2000, while their appeal against the sentence was pending,the brothers secured bail and disappeared. Sixteen years later, the Delhi High Court upheld their conviction, but the brothers never surrendered.
The catch
After his arrest in Mumbai, Firasat remained in jail until January 2021, when he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court. He disappeared again. There was no trace of Shah Nawaz either.
Nearly five years later, Delhi Police’s Anti-Robbery and Snatching Cell (ARSC) of the Crime Branch received fresh intelligence on the brothers’ whereabouts. Investigators learnt that Firasat had returned to his hometown of Moradabad, while Shah Nawaz was living in Godda, Jharkhand. Two teams led by Inspector Robin Tyagi were formed.
“On July 4, both teams simultaneously conducted raids at Moradabad and Godda to prevent either accused from alerting the other or escaping. Both were successfully apprehended from their respective hideouts,” said DCP Yadav.
Both are now lodged in Tihar Jail. Delhi Police have informed their counterparts in Mumbai about Firasat’s arrest.
Police said while on the run, the brothers had continued to lead seemingly ordinary lives while expanding their clothes business. Firasat handled supplies from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, while Shah Nawaz oversaw operations in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Brothers Shah Nawaz and Firasat Ali were arrested from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh on July 4. (Express Photo) 
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