Sometimes, the simplest clue helps the police crack the most horrific crime. In 2010, the Mumbai police solved one such challenging murder case after an eagle-eyed police officer noticed that the severed head found in the city’s eastern suburbs had a jet-black moustache and a salt-and-pepper beard. The contradiction was jarring and the lead saw the police solve the case.
The murder came to light on a rainy morning on July 31, 2010. A JCB operator was picking up garbage from the Kurla dumping yard and moving it into dumpers to be transported to the Deonar dumping ground. Many women ragpickers were around. Suddenly, one of them shouted and signalled the JCB operator to stop as she had seen something in the garbage. The JCB operator halted his work and stepped out to take a closer look. Both of them screamed on seeing the object – a man’s severed hand hanging from a blue bag.
The Kurla police were immediately informed. Local Crime Branch officials also reached the spot and began a parallel investigation.
While the severed hand was fished out, the police searched the entire dumping yard and soon found another hand, two legs and a man’s severed head. The torso, however, was missing. As police photographers took photos of the severed head, multiple teams started inquiring about the deceased person in the area but failed to make any headway.
The police also circulated the photo of the deceased across all police stations to check if anyone had filed a missing person’s complaint. But this too did not work, a police officer said.
Meanwhile, the Crime Branch officials thoroughly inspected the body parts found in the garbage dumping yard. It was then that one of the investigators made an important observation. He told his superiors that the deceased’s lightly grown beard was full of grey hair but his moustache was black. This prompted the investigators to believe that the deceased had recently shaved his beard and dyed his moustache.
Considering this a vital clue, the Crime Branch team decided to focus on all the salons in the area. After checking dozens of salons for three days, they hit pay dirt. Three people working at a salon in Kurla identified the photo as that of Kamruddin. The 35-year-old had got his beard shaved and moustache dyed at this salon, they informed the police.
The salon employees also informed the police that Kamruddin stayed in a room in Dharavi’s Social Nagar. A Crime Branch team immediately went to the said address and found two people in the room. When the police asked them how many people stayed there, they claimed only two of them.
Initially, the police thought that they were in the wrong room but an officer observed that the room had a new carpet. He pulled it over and a light foul smell spread. This raised suspicion and prompted the police to search the room. When they pushed aside a water drum, they allegedly found blood stains. The Crime Branch officials intensified the search and soon a chopper was found hidden in the room, another officer said.
The two suspects, Mohammed Firoz Anwar Sheikh, 23, and Khurshid Alam Sheikh, 21, were then taken to the Crime Branch office and subjected to sustained interrogation. During questioning, Mohammed broke down and allegedly confessed that they had killed Kamruddin.
Fallout over a phone
Mohammed Firoz Anwar Sheikh allegedly told the police that Kamruddin lived with him and Khurshid Alam Sheikh in the same house. All three were from Bihar and had migrated to Mumbai for work. Kamruddin used to work as a helper on film shooting sets and would often boast about seeing big actors at work. He was a drunkard and a womaniser, Mohammed allegedly told the police.
Whenever Kamruddin would fall short of money, he allegedly borrowed from Mohammed. Once Kamruddin allegedly stole Mohammed’s mobile phone. Mohammed reportedly told the police that the phone had pictures of his mother, sister and relatives and whenever he would feel lonely in Mumbai, he would look at his family’s pictures. He was allegedly angry at Kamruddin for not returning his mobile phone.
On July 29, Kamruddin did not come home at night. The next morning, while Mohammed and Khurshid were having tea at a stall, they saw Kamruddin going home in an inebriated state. Mohammed stopped Kamruddin and asked for his mobile phone. Kamruddin allegedly got angry and hit Mohammed in front of everyone and abused him too. Kamruddin then went home and slept.
Mohammed and Khurshid reached home. Angry over being humiliated, Mohammed allegedly told Khurshid that the time had come to teach Kamruddin a lesson. The two then decided to kill him, the police said.
Mohammed allegedly brought a chopper that was to be used for a goat sacrifice ceremony at a friend’s function the next day. Using this chopper, Mohammed allegedly beheaded Kamruddin while he was asleep. Mohammed and Khurshid allegedly chopped Kamruddin’s body into six pieces, brought plastic bags and a sack from the grocery store downstairs, put the torso in the sack and stitched it. They put the rest of the pieces in the blue plastic bags and threw the bags and the sack in different garbage bins, the police claimed.
The pieces of the body in the plastic bag were found in the Kurla dumping ground on the morning of July 31 but the torso stuffed in the sack has not been found yet.
Kamruddin had no family or relatives, the police said, and nobody reported him missing. His murder would have remained unsolved for years but for a perceptive policeman who noticed his dyed moustache.
His murder would have remained unsolved for years but for a perceptive policeman who noticed his dyed moustache. (Representational Photo) 
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