More than four months after a 21-year-old woman was murdered, then raped and dumped in the Malwani mangroves, the police arrested her brother-in-law and two others for the gruesome crime. The case had remained unsolved since January but was finally cracked after the police got an anonymous letter pointing them to the brother-in-law. Confronted with the letter, the accused finally admitted that he killed her after she repeatedly rejected his sexual advances.
Rubeena Qureshi, the victim
On January 9, the Malwani police had found the body of Rubeena aka Ruby Qureshi, in the mangroves near Dharoli village at Aksa beach. The naked body had been bundled in a sack, with her hands and legs tied with a rope. There were also several injuries on her head and signs that she had been strangled to death. The investigation also established that she had been raped after the murder. The cops registered the case on January 16, but her kin were unable to identify her body as it was bloated and disfigured due to high tide.
Finally identified
The woman was finally identified as the 21-year-old Rubeena, who was living in Malwani with her husband, Azaad Qureshi, who runs a catering business at Ambuj wadi. The main accused was identified as Azaad’s elder brother, Raees Qureshi (26). His accomplices were identified as another brother-in-law Ishaque Qureshi (55, married to the sister of Azaad and Raees) and a friend, Gulam Rasool alias Shabbir (23).
Rubeena and Azaad hail from Badaun in UP but they had eloped and settled in Delhi. Their families were against the marriage, especially Raees and this made them shift to Mumbai. During interrogation, the accused revealed that after few months, the family came to terms with the marriage, and Raees began visiting them in Malwani.
Whenever Azaad was not at home, Raees would make sexual advances towards Rubeena but was thwarted each time. She had complained to her husband too, but he refused to believe her. Meanwhile, Raees got fed up of constant rejection and decided to kill her.
Azaad was away from home on January 3, when Raees and his accomplices attacked Rubeena. After they killed her, Raees had his way with her body and then called his accomplices back the next day to dump the body.
According to Inspector S Thakur from Malwani police station, Rubeena’s husband filed a complaint on the same day she went missing, but when her body was found, he could not recognise her. After a few months, the family left Mumbai and every time the police called the husband, Raees would turn up instead, and supply misleading information. It was only on Saturday that he finally admitted that he and his accomplices had committed the crime.
All three accused have been arrested under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. They were produced before the court and remanded to police custody till May 27.
