Mutilated body of missing 12-year-old boy found in Mangroves

MUMBAI: The headless, mutilated body of a 12-year-old boy, missing since January 28, found in the mangroves near Bombay Port Trust ground in Wadala. According to the police, the accused turned out to be a neighbour, identified through CCTV footage, who later managed to escape from police custody. The police said the accused is also involved in a murder case in Kolkata for which he was sentenced to life, but he jumped COVID parole and did not go back to jail.
The Wadala Truck Terminus police received a missing case on January 29 from a fish seller staying in Shanti-Nagar, Wadala East. He claimed that his twelve-year-old son who was called by the neighbour Bipul Shikari to bring some grocery items had not returned home thereafter.
The police then registered a kidnapping case against an unknown accused and from the CCTV footage found out that the accused was Bipul Shikari alias Master, who was staying in the neighborhood in rented premises.
“He called the boy to bring some grocery items and took him in a cab to Sewri Railway crossing and later we don’t know what had happened. When Shikari returned home around midnight we caught him, even bashed him up, and took him to the police station. Initially, he denied having anything to do with the kidnapping but later told us that he had sold the boy to the eunuchs. However, as he was bleeding, the police officer told him to wash his face, and when he went to wash his face, he fled the police station,” said the father of the deceased boy.
Later police teams went to Shikari’s village in Kalyani in Nadia district of West Bengal and learned that in 2012, he was involved in a murder for which was sentenced to life.
“He jumped Covid bail and had not returned to Kolkata thereafter and the local police too were searching for him after registering an offence. He was involved in human trafficking in West Bengal, we are trying to trace him again,” said the police officer.
The police found the torso on Monday, identified through the victim’s footwear, T-shirt, and metal ring. The head was found on Tuesday. The decomposed state of the body prompted the police to conduct a post-mortem to ascertain if there was any sexual assault on the child.
The victim’s family has written to the home minister, demanding action against the police for allowing the accused to escape from custody.