Mumbai rocked by yet another horrific rape

The crime came to light when the 12-year-old Diwa resident did not return home after classes. A search led neighbours and police to her badly battered body stuffed in a jute sack in a damp passage behind Ganraj residency building on the Mumbra-Diwa Road,where she lived.

“We found it bizarre that the sack was soaked in blood and there was no sign of blood around the spot. It was impossible for the body to be brought to the spot without leaving a track. We searched the terraces of five adjoining buildings and the entire neighbourhood,” said Ghuge.

The teams then looked for bachelors,after an initial post-mortem report revealed that the girl had been raped. “After forensic study of the spot,we figured out that the accused has to be from the same building and could not be far. Neighbours told us that a man had been living alone on the first floor for some months after his wife left him.”

The teams rushed to his house but it was locked. They broke open the door and allegedly found the girl’s school bag in the living room and the bathroom walls and floor were smeared with blood. The bed sheets had been removed,but the bed still had bloodstains,added the officer.

“The crime scene has been established. It must have been a brutal death,” said Ghuge.

Singh worked as a car mechanic in a showroom in Thane. The police search was intensified after his employer said he had been sacked over a case of cheque bouncing. “We sent teams to all car mechanic shops around Wagle Estate as we felt he would’ve looked for jobs in the area. He was nabbed from one such shop and during questioning confessed to having called the girl to his house on some pretext as they lived in the same building. He had recently lost his job and wife and was also involved in a forgery case. He says he panicked after the girl died and scrambled to dump her body,” said Ghuge.

Singh is in police custody and will be taken to his house on Monday for crime reconstruction. The police have collected forensic samples of all the evidence from his house and his statement has been recorded.