Thane: The Thane police have arrested a Mumbra-based couple for allegedly killing their 18-month-old daughter and suspiciously burying the body remains at a graveyard in Mumbra. However, the police claimed that the motive behind the killing of their infant child is still not clear. After the preliminary inquiry, the police claimed that the motive appears to be suspicious at first sight. The accused couple are being interrogated and a detailed investigation is being carried out to ascertain the exact reason of the crime.

According to the Thane police, the Mumbra-based couple was arrested on Wednesday, who have been identified as Jahid Shaikh (38) and his wife Noorani (28). The accused couple has reportedly not yet divulged the reason for killing their daughter identified as Labiba.

Police had reportedly received a letter claiming murder of the girl

During the inquiry, it was revealed that the incident took place on March 18. However, the incident came to the notice of the police after an anonymous person, in his letter to the police in the last week of March, claimed that the girl was murdered by her parents and buried at a graveyard. The letter reportedly had details about the murder, phone number and address along with the pictures of the child, showcasing injury marks on her body, said the police.

Considering the seriousness of the incident, the police immediately initiated a probe and exhumed the remains of the child from the graveyard, which was later sent for postmortem. The postmortem report revealed that the child died of severe head injury and had also sustained multiple other injuries on her body.

After receiving information about the gruesome murder, the police initiated their investigation and started looking out for clues at hospitals and graveyards across Mumbra.

The police came across the first clue when they met one Samir Dhole at Naya Kabrastan, who went through the cemetery’s record book and found out that an 18-month old girl was buried around midnight on March 18. The police got the address of the couple from the records at the graveyard.

A senior police official said that the police approached the doctor, who had issued the death certificate. He reportedly informed the police the girl was bleeding profusely from her head, who was referred to him by another doctor of a private hospital in Mumbra.

When asked, the child’s parents had reportedly informed the doctors that their daughter Labiba’s skin had suddenly ruptured and started bleeding following which they brought them to the hospital.

The police registered an FIR in the case and initiated an investigation. The couple were called to join the investigation into the matter.

During the interrogation, the police got suspicious about the couple, who had a huge discrepancy in their answers on the cause of the injury they narrated to the doctors and the police.

After sensing something amiss, the police conducted a sustained interrogation following which the father and the mother of the child confessed to the crime. Subsequently, the couple was arrested by the Mumbra police and produced before court, from where they were remanded to police custody till April 15.

During investigation, it was found that accused Jahid, who hails from Jharkhand, had studied at a Madrasa in Chembur and then started teaching students at religious places in Mumbra.

Further investigation into the matter is being conducted.