Headless Remains of Missing Mumbai Boy Discovered, Suspect’s Escape Under Scrutiny
Mumbai, 6th March 2024: The finding of a highly decomposed and headless body of a 12-year-old boy, Sandip alias Raj Yadav, who had gone missing in January from the Shantinagar slum pockets of Wadala, has left the police in turmoil. The incident has sparked outrage among locals, as the suspect, previously apprehended based on CCTV footage, managed to escape custody after being handed over to the Wadala Truck Terminals (TT) police.
On Tuesday, Wadala TT police initiated a murder case against unknown individuals after a fisherman stumbled upon the body of the deceased boy while catching fish in the mangroves. Sandip, the only son of a fisherman, was reported missing on January 29, and an inquiry has been launched against the police officer in charge at the time of the suspect’s escape.
The local fisherman discovered the highly decomposed body when he noticed a hand protruding from a discarded roll of an advertisement banner. The police, alerted by the fisherman, opened the banner roll and uncovered the headless remains of the boy, along with a skull suspected to be his. The body has been sent for postmortem and DNA testing, and a kidnapping and murder case has been registered, as stated by Prashant Kadam, DCP (Zone 4).
Sandip’s father, Bechai Yadav, had filed a missing complaint on January 29, recounting that his son had not returned after going out to play the previous evening. CCTV footage revealed Sandip with his neighbour, Bipul Sigri, originally from West Bengal. Locals apprehended Bipul, who was then handed over to the police. However, during interrogation, Bipul managed to escape when he claimed he needed to wash his bleeding head.
The city crime branch, conducting a parallel investigation, tracked Bipul to Pune, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir before he went untraceable. Preliminary inquiries suggest that the motive behind the murder may be linked to possible criminal activities, with police exploring the theory of a connection to sodomy.
