MUMBAI:

Four months after a woman was brutally murdered, raped and her body stuffed in a sack and dumped in a creek at Malad, the police arrested her brother-in-law, his relative and friend for the crime. The prime accused, Raees Qureshi, reportedly told the police that he raped his

Ruby Qureshi after killing her out of spite.

“Raees’ wife got along with Ruby, but he felt that she often humiliated him in public. He wanted to get intimate with her, but she turned him down,” said a police officer. Raees told the police he was not happy with Ruby marrying his brother Azad and was upset by her dominating nature.

On January 9, the police found a naked woman’s decomposed body in a sack near a creek at Dharavli village; her arms and legs were bound. During investigation, the police learnt that a woman had gone missing from the Ambhujwadi slums in Malwani. They showed the imitation jewellery that was on the body to the mother of the missing woman, who identified them as belonging to her daughter Ruby.

Ruby and Azad, a caterer, had tied the knot four years ago in Delhi against their families’ wishes. After their child turned two, they moved to Ambhujwadi in October 2015. Later even Raees, a vegetable vendor, moved into the same neighbourhood.

The police said that when Raees tried to get intimate with her, she complained to Azad, but he ignored her. “Raees hatched a plan to eliminate Ruby and roped in his relative, Isaq Qureshi, and friend, Shabbir. On January 3, Raees sent his wife away for some work and after Azad left for his job, Raees called Ruby to his place where Isaq and Shabbir were already waiting. The trio bludgeoned Ruby with a brick and strangled her. Raees then raped the corpse, the police said. To prevent the body from being identified, they undressed her and packed her body in a sack. While Shabbir stayed at home, Raees and Isaq took the sack on a bike to a deserted portion of

and dumped it there,” said DCP Vikram Deshmane. In March, Raees and his family left town.

The police suspected Raees’ involvement in the crime as he kept changing his statements about Ruby’s disappearence and tried to mislead investigators. He was arrested on May 21. Based on his confession, Isaq and Shabbir were held on Sunday. A magistrate’s court has remanded them to police custody till May 27.