Man kills wife, dumps body with help of his Kids

Two days after the Santacruz police found the body of an unidentified woman at Juhu Koliwada on Saturday morning, they made a major breakthrough in the case. The police have booked the woman's husband for the killing.

Not child's play: The Santacruz police find a sack containing the body of a woman in Juhu Koliwada on Saturday early morning.u00a0

CCTV footage shows the accused taking the help of his 12-year-old daughter and six-year-old son to dispose the body. A police team has been dispatched to nab the accused, who is believed to have fled to his hometown in Bihar after the killing.

After browsing through CCTV footage from a camera installed in the vicinity, cops spot an auto rickshaw and acquire registration details of vehicle from RTO.u00a0

The deceased has been identified as Gudiya alias Chhaya Singh, an employee of Johnson and Johnson company in Santacruz, while the husband has been identified as Shashi Rajan Singh, an auto driver by profession.

The footage also shows Singh carrying his wife's body in a gunny bag with the help of his children. Illustrations/Amit Bandre

"Singh was not aware of the CCTV cameras installed at his neighbour's house, footage from which is now clinching evidence in the case. The footage shows Singh's son helping lift the sack containing his mother's body, while the daughter is seen keeping a watch at the lane from where the body was dragged to his auto rickshaw," said a senior police officer, on condition of anonymity. The officer further said, "There is a possibility that the children might not be aware of what was in the sack."

Breakthrough
After finding the body, the police started scanning footage of CCTV cameras installed around the spot of the crime. They finally zeroed in on an auto rickshaw that was seen in the recordings. After noting the licence plate number, the police enquired with the RTO, which provided them with information that the vehicle was registered in the name of Singh, a resident of Kapur Basti, Gavdevi, Vakola.

On reaching the address, the police found that the accused was missing along with his family.

Suspecting that the body could be Singh's wife, the police got in touch with Gudiya's relatives and summoned some of them to the police station. Their doubts were confirmed when Gudiya's relatives identified the body. The police then realised that Singh's neighbour had installed CCTV cameras, and started browsing through the footage.

Chilling details
The 25-minute footage retrieved from the camera shows Singh's daughter coming out of the house and standing at the entrance of the lane at 1 am on Saturday. Singh along with his son is seen carrying a gunny bag containing Gudiya's body.

The daughter is also seen alerting her father on a couple of occasions whenever they attempt to bring the body out of the house. Taking note of the gestures, they rush back inside the house.

After a couple of attempts, the body is dragged out of the house and dumped in Singh's rickshaw.

Once the body is placed, Singh is seen occupying the front seat while his two children adjust themselves on the backseat.

Footage from Koliwada shows that the rickshaw arrived there at 6.30 am. "This indicates that the accused had roamed for around five hours looking for an appropriate spot to dump the corpse," said the officer.

Around 8 am, the footage from the Vakola camera shows the accused returning to his house with the kids. He enters the house, packs his bags and leaves with the children once again.

Based on the CCTV footage and other circumstantial evidence, the accused has been booked by the Santacruz police station under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPCu00a0