Crime Branch

Rebello and his adopted daughter Aradhiya, wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Papa Ki Pari’ when she was arrested for his murder on December 7

sexually assault

Taximen Colony and Kapadia Nagar

BMC

A stretch of Mithi River in Kurla that was searched by the police for Bennett Rebello’s body parts

The police say the note, scribbled in English and Hindi, was written by the Vakola teen hours after she allegedly murdered the man who adopted her.A 19-year-old girl, who along with her 16-year-old boyfriend is accused of one of the grisliest murders the city has witnessed, scribbled a note apologising for her actions hours after committing the crime, the police claimed yesterday. Deputy Commissioner of Police () Shahaji Umap said the note was recovered from musician Bennett Rebello’s Vakola house, where he was allegedly killed by his adopted daughter Aradhiya Patil and her boyfriend on November 26.Written in English and Hindi, the note reads: “Dad I am sorry, I am really sorry, really, really, sorry. God, sorry. Dad sorry for you. I am a bad girl. Jisne mujhe yeh ghar pe rehne diya usee ko maine mar diya, jisne parvarish di, usee ko mar diya. Sorry Dad.” Fifty-nine-year-old Rebello’s murder came to light when a bag containing his body parts washed ashore Mahim Beach on December 2. Rebello resided in a ground-plus-one-storey house and had adopted Aradhiya a year-and-a-half ago when he found her roaming the streets.A tailoring shop’s label on a shirt that was stuffed along with the body parts in the bag helped the police identify the victim, leading to Aradhiya and her friend’s arrest.The police have narrated spine-chilling details of Rebello’s killing. According to them, Aradhiya and her friend hit Rebello on the head with a stick late in the night on November 26, then repeatedly stabbed him. They also sprayed his face with a pesticide till he stopped breathing. The two then dismembered his body in the bathroom over three days, repeatedly heating the knives using the stove. At the end of each day, they would stuff some of the body parts in a suitcase, hire an autorickshaw, and dump the suitcase into Mithi River. One of the three suitcases surfaced on Mahim Beach.Immediately after their arrests, Aradhiya’s boyfriend told the police that Rebello wouldher. Prima facie, the police have found nothing that corroborates the sexual assault allegations. The phone call records of the boy revealed that he had asked some of his friends to help commit the crime and was rebuffed. “The boy was convinced that Aradhiya was being sexually assaulted by Rebello. He certainly approached some of his close friends for help and they refused to get involved,” a Crime Branch officer said. The police also found that Aradhiya’s family resides in Saki Naka and she ran away from home after her mother’s death a few years ago. Her father subsequently remarried.The biggest challenge before the investigators is to recover all the body parts. “It is possible that the bags stuffed with the body parts are lying on the Mithi riverbed. We visited thein Kurla where the nullahs connected to Mithi are located. Theand the fire brigade will join in the search today,” the officer said.