Crime branch caught Dawood Shaikh (centre) after a 4-day manhunt

NAVI MUMBAI: Four days after the body of a 20-year-old woman was found in the bushes behind a petrol pump at Kotnaka in Uran, police arrested the accused from his hometown in Karnataka‘s Gulbarga district.
Additional commissioner of police Deepak Sakore said the accused, Dawood Shaikh, has confessed his crime and is being brought to Navi Mumbai. “We had zeroed in on Shaikh as the prime suspect as he was caught on CCTV cameras on Uran station road walking behind Yashashri Shinde on July 25, the day she went missing,” said a police officer.
A crime branch officer said Shaikh has confessed to killing Yashashri, who had rejected his advances in 2019 when he was living in Uran, as he suspected her of having an affair with his friend Mohsin, who is from his hometown.
In 2019, Uran police had arrested Shaikh in a molestation and Pocso case based on Yashashri’s father’s complaint after he caught them in a park. After spending four months in jail, Shaikh was granted bail during the Covid pandemic, and he went to Bengaluru with his widowed mother and sister. There he worked as a conductor with Karnataka state road transport agency. He, however, stayed in touch with Yashashri on the phone. In Feb, Shaikh made a call to Shinde from his friend Mohsin’s phone. Later, Mohsin and Yashashri befriended each other on social media.
Suspecting Yashashri and Mohsin of having a relationship, Shaikh returned to Uran on July 23, and asked Yashashri to meet him on July 25, said police. She met him at Kotnaka near the petrol pump. When he asked her about her relationship with Mohsin, a verbal spat ensued and he allegedly stabbed her thrice on her waist and back, dumped her body in the bushes and fled. Her body was found the next day.
To apprehend Shaikh, a crime branch team, comprising a sub-inspector and three constables, went to Bengaluru and enquired with his mother and sister, while another team, comprising a police officer and three constables, laid a trap near his house in Alur village in Gulbarga, where his grandparents reside.
On Tuesday, around 5am, when Shaikh stepped out of the house, the sleuths, who were in plain clothes, followed him. On realising that they were cops, he tried to flee, but was caught after a chase.