In May last year, a woman was found murdered in Nallasopara near Mumbai. A bloodstained knife was found near the crime scene, but it was not the piece of evidence that turned the case around. Instead, the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai Virar police cracked the case by following the trail of an unexpected item left behind by the accused – a delay spray, used by men to enhance their sexual performance.
On May 28, 2024, a woman’s body was found in the foothills of a hill in the isolated area of Dhaniv Baug in Nallasopara. Her throat was slit, and there were two stab wounds on her chest and stomach. The body had swelled, indicating that she was probably killed 8-10 hours ago. The police suspected that the woman was murdered elsewhere and that the killer had dumped her body in a remote location so that it would not be spotted.
On the village sarpanch’s complaint, a case of murder and destruction of evidence was registered at Pelhar police station. Senior Inspector Jitendra Vankoti formed multiple probe teams, and the investigation began.
There was no article found on the dead body that could help the police identify the woman. But as the deceased was wearing a burqa, the police suspected she could be a Muslim. A police team obtained voters’ lists from the nearby areas and started checking Muslim households.
Meanwhile, another team focused on the articles seized from the crime scene, including the knife. When enquiring at local stores about the knife did not yield any result, the police shifted their attention to other articles seized from near the spot where the body was found – three used condoms and the delay spray.
According to Vankoti, the spray container had batch numbers printed on it. He dispatched a police team to various medical stores to trace the shop it was purchased from. After enquiring at multiple medical stores, a man identified the container and the condom packet, and after checking the batch number, allegedly confirmed to the police that a young man had purchased the items.
This development prompted the police to check the store’s CCTV, and soon they had a photo of a suspect in their hands.
Meanwhile, the first police team making enquiries with Muslim families living in the area came across a house where two children were crying. When the police asked the neighbours why the children were crying and where their parents were, a neighbour told them that their mother had been missing for three days and their father had gone to the police station to lodge a missing persons report.
The police team rushed back to the police station and found the children’s father, Jiaull Shah. Since the woman’s body was sent for a post-mortem at Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai, Shah was shown photographs of the body. He identified the deceased as his 34-year-old wife, Saira Bano, from her bangles, clothes and an unusually short finger on her foot. A few days later, he was taken to the mortuary at Sir JJ Hospital, where he confirmed her identity.
The police then showed Shah the CCTV photo of the youth who had purchased the items from the medical store. Shah identified him as his nephew, Najabuddin Mohammed Sammi, 21, the police said. He allegedly also told the police that, though Sammi did not live there, he had been spotted in the area a few days ago.
The police obtained Sammi’s mobile phone number from Shah, but it was found switched off. From phone call analysis and other technical evidence, the police learnt that Sammi worked in a bakery in the Aman Vihar area of Delhi.
A police team led by detection officer Sopan Patil went to Delhi, and after making enquiries at more than 100 bakeries, they managed to nab Sammi and bring him to Maharashtra.
During interrogation, Sammi allegedly revealed that he had been having an affair with his aunt, Saira Bano, for the past two years. Later, when he got married in Delhi, he started ignoring her, and this allegedly made Saira Bano angry, leading to fights between the two. Sammi’s wife also allegedly started suspecting her husband. This is when Sammi decided to murder Saira Bano, police sources alleged.
After arriving in Maharashtra, Sammi allegedly called Saira Bano to meet him in an isolated place late at night to avoid being spotted by anyone. He bought the condoms and delay spray from a local medical store, the police said. When she came to meet him, the two allegedly had sex. After that, Sammi allegedly took out a knife and slit Saira Bano’s throat and stabbed her.
He allegedly dumped her body at the foothills of a hill and returned to Delhi, the police said, adding that the evidence he carelessly discarded near the crime scene eventually helped them solve the case.
There was no article found on the dead body that could help the police identify the woman (Representational image) 
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