Couple kills, buries minor daughter at graveyard; held weeks later as police receive tip-off

Thane, Apr 11 (PTI) More than three weeks after a couple allegedly killed their 18-month-old daughter and secretly buried her at a graveyard in Maharashtra’s Thane city, the police exhumed her body and arrested the husband-wife duo after an anonymous letter tipped them off about the crime, an official said on Thursday.

The couple – Jahid Sheikh (38) and his 28-year-old wife Noorami – who reside at Mumbra in the city were arrested on Wednesday for the murder that occurred on March 18, he said.

“The police recently received an anonymous letter about the couple killing their child, Labiba, and quietly burying the body in the graveyard. The police launched a probe and detained the couple. Initially, the accused did not cooperate, but later told how they committed the crime. However, they did not reveal the motive behind the killing,” senior inspector Anil Shinde of the Mumbra police station said.

“The couple told the police that they killed their daughter on March 18, after then buried the body in a local graveyard. The police then exhumed the decomposed body. The autopsy report confirmed that the child had suffered injuries on her head and other body parts,” he added.

A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) was registered with the police, he said.

Inspector (crime) S A Dawne said the couple was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in police custody till April 15.