Out on bail,Kurla rape-murder suspect held for molestation

Police said the victim,who is married,was on a visit to Mumbai and was staying with her cousin’s family. “Sheikh has a long criminal record; his modus operandi is to commit a series of petty thefts in a night. This time too,before coming to the victim’s house,he had stolen things from two other houses. The victim’s cousin recognised Sheikh as the Nehru Nagar rape and murder suspect. The victim also identified him after the arrest,” said an officer.

The police have booked Sheikh on charges of theft,illegal trespass and molestation. Sheikh’s former lawyer Prakash Wagh said the accused was intoxicated and had fallen on the girl after robbing a cellphone in a drunken stupor.

Sheikh’s mother Bismillah said her son should be punished for theft,but not for molestation. “After his release,I felt that he might have mended his ways,but his fixation with cellphones refuses to go. On Wednesday night,we were all at home watching television and he was asleep. However,when the building fell,shouts from residents woke him and he ventured out around 2 am. He had assured me that he was going out only to check the situation. He returned nearly an hour later and was about to sleep when the woman’s relatives barged in,alleging that he had stolen a cellphone from their house,” she said,adding that the families knew each other.

Sheikh,a rickshaw driver,was arrested on March 9 for allegedly raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl,whose body was recovered from the terrace of a police quarters building. As many as three minor girls were raped and murdered in Nehru Nagar since February.