4 min readMumbaiApr 24, 2023 04:45 PM IST
First published on: Apr 23, 2023 at 12:51 AM IST
The Malad police on Saturday arrested three persons for allegedly killing a 69-year-old woman in a Malad residential society during robbery. One of the three accused is a domestic help who had been working at the victim’s house for a long time.
The deceased woman was identified as Marie Celine D’Costa, who had retired 10 years ago. She lived at room 8 in the New Life CHSL, Malad (West), along with her grandson Neel Raibole (26).
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 11) Ajay Bansal said that the help and two others have been arrested in the case.
Shabnam Parvin Shaikh (45) and Shahzad Umar Shaikh (26) were arrested from the same area while Umar Shaikh (71) was arrested from Vasai. Shahzad is Umar’s son. Umar is a driver and has separated from his wife. His son lived with Shabnam, who too has separated from her husband and lived with Shahzad and daughter Afreen in the Malwani Gate no. 7 area.
As per the police complaint filed by Raibole, Shabnam had been working as a help at D’Costa’s place for over two decades. In between, she quit the job several times but returned later. She was a trusted help of the family and used to work full-time at D’Costa’s place doing all the work including cooking, cleaning and washing clothes, among others.
As Shabnam suffered disability in one leg, she could not walk properly on her own. Hence, Shahzad or Afreen would often drop her off at D’Costa’s place.
According to the police complaint, on Thursday evening, Raibole received a call from an RTO agent who was helping him with his learner’s licence. The agent asked Raibole to share an OTP for licence authentication. Raibole told him that his grandmother’s mobile number was linked to his Aadhaar card; hence, the OTP must have been delivered on her number, and he asked the agent to call on his grandmother’s number. The agent told him that he called the number, but no one answered.
Raibole then called his grandmother’s friend and a neighbour to check why D’Costa was not responding to calls. When the neighbour knocked on the door, no one responded. The neighbour then opened the door with a spare key that Raibole had kept with her. On entering the room, the neighbour saw D’Costa lying dead in the bathroom with her head inside a water bucket.
She informed Raibole, who immediately left office for home. The police were informed. In an hour, Raibole reached home, and around the same time, Shabnam and Shahzad also arrived at the scene. The body was taken to the Shatabdi hospital in Kandivali. The police initially registered an accidental death report.
Raibole checked the society’s CCTV camera and saw a man, who was wearing a mask and carrying a backpack, entering the society at 5.31 pm and leaving at 5.48 pm. Around the same time Shabnam and Shahzad left the house with the door opened, the unidentified suspect entered the room, Raibole told the police.
Raibole said from the CCTV footage, it looked like Shabnam and Shahzad helped the unidentified suspect enter his house to commit the crime.
Later, Raibole, along with his aunts (D’Costa’s sisters), who had come from Kuwait after learning about their sister’s murder, searched the entire house. They discovered that D’Costa’s two mobile phones, wrist watch, gold chain, and other valuables totaling Rs 50,000 were missing.
The police then detained Shabnam and Shahzad.
“During sustained interrogation, they admitted having committed the crime. Later, Umar was arrested from Vasai,” said Ravi Adane, senior police inspector of Malad police station.
Police said that their interrogation revealed that the accused smothered D’Costa with a pillow and later forced her head in a bucket of water to drown her. “The three have been arrested on Saturday and a local court remanded them in police custody till April 26. They have been charged under sections 302 (murder), 397 (committing robbery by attempting to cause death or grievous hurt to any person), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC,” Adane added.
Police said that their interrogation revealed that the accused smothered D’Costa with a pillow and later forced her head in a bucket of water to drown her. 
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