Double murder of interfaith couple cracked, thanks to packet found near ‘haunted’ well

An officer probing the case said Chandra and Khan who were residing in Banda district of UP had come to Mumbai on Friday. That same night, he was taken by Khan’s father, two brothers, and three others to the isolated spot in Govandi. They stabbed him on the neck, abdomen and back and threw him in the well thinking hardly anyone came there.

“The pool is located on the other side of a forest. It is so isolated that locally it is called ‘bhutiya pool’ or haunted pool,” said senior inspector S Honwadajkar. However, the next day, a couple of children went to swim there and one of the children’s legs hit the body. They then informed the local Govandi police who called the fire brigade and removed the body.

The police then started searching the area on a 100-metre radius of the well and found a small wallet-like packet among alcohol bottles strewn in the area. When the police removed the packet, they found a note which had a mobile number scrawled on it. When the police called it, no one answered.

“We then checked the call records and found a number that had spoken to this number a day earlier. When we called, the person said he was based in UP and helped us identify the deceased as Chandra,” the officer said.

Later when they found his wife too was missing, the police realised it was a case of double murder and Gulnaz’s family members were involved in the case.

He added, “That helped us in a big way in solving the case in 24 hours since otherwise it would be difficult to identify the deceased as he along with Gulnaz were residing in UP and no one here would have given a missing persons complaint.”

An officer said that while Chandra’s parents have passed away, his elder brother who resides in Delhi is on his way to Mumbai to claim the body of his brother.

The police on Wednesday apprehended a minor–the younger brother of Gulnaz who is alleged to be involved in the incident. The police are still on the lookout for a cousin of Gulnaz whose cab was used to dispose of the body of the couple.

An officer said the couple had eloped and got married in November last year after which the girl’s parents were unaware of their location. However, recently when they came to know that the couple had returned to Mumbai, they contacted them and asked them to return home.

An officer add that the last rites of Chandra had been carried out in the city in Wednesday by two of his brothers who came to the city.