Navi Mumbai Murder Accused Dawood Confesses to Killing Yashshri, Police Say They Knew Each Other

Dawood Shaikh, the main accused in the Navi Mumbai murder case has confessed to his crime, police said on Tuesday. He was arrested on Monday in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old woman, whose body was discovered near Uran railway station in Navi Mumbai last week.

The police said Shaikh had fled to Karnataka after committing the murder. He was arrested from Shahpur, district Gulbarga in Karnataka.

20-year-old Yashshri Shinde’s body was found in the early hours of Saturday. Police believe she was killed sometime between 3:30 pm and 4:30 pm on Friday when she had taken half-day leave from her Navi Mumbai office.

Police said both the victim and the accused Dawood were in contact with each other. Navi Mumbai ACP Deepak Sakore said that the matter of an affair between the two has just come to light and is under investigation but added that the two used to speak with each other.

“Dawood called Yashshri to meet him and murdered her. The post-mortem report primarily revealed murder by stabbing,” Sakore said.

He added that the reason for the murder is not clear. Police said that Dawood has confessed that he called Yashshri to discuss a dispute, and murdered her on meeting her.

Yashshri’s father, Surendra Kumar, had named Dawood Shaikh as the prime suspect. He had said the police must arrest him immediately. The victim’s father had filed a police complaint against Dawood in 2019 for harassing his daughter and the murder, he claimed, was an act of revenge for the same.

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya met the family of the murdered woman and sought a stringent law against “love jihad”. In a message on X, he said he met the family along with local MLA Mahesh Baldi and promised them prompt action to apprehend her assailants.

Tagging Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, Somaiya said a legislation should be enacted against love jihad. Love jihad is a term used by right wing activists alleging a ploy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam by luring them into love marriages. Somaiya also said provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act must invoked in the case.