Mumbai Cops Solve Murder With Help From Constable's Speech Impaired Son

The shocking murder of a hearing and speech impaired man from Mumbai has been solved with the help of a hearing and speech impaired man young man, the son of a police constable. In what was termed the "love quadrangle murder" and 'suitcase murder", the body of 30-year-old Arshadali Sadiqueali Shaikh was found in a suitcase in Dadar station on August 5.

After a huge brawl over a woman in a purported love quadrangle, two friends of the victim, Jai Pravin Chawda and Shivjeet Surendra Singh, had allegedly clobbered him death with a hammer. They had stuffed his body in a trolley bag and Chavda was seen lugging it on Platform No. 11 of Dadar station, presumably to dispose of it.  But he raised the suspicion of a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable, who caught up with him and eventually discovered the body.

But the Mumbai police, who took over the case, soon encountered a problem. The accused could neither speak nor hear, and no one in the police knew sign language. When Rajesh Satpute, a constable of RA Kidwai police station posted at the blockade at night, came to know about it, he dialled his son, who is also hearing and speech impaired. 

Asked what was his son's reaction when he got the call, Rajesh Satpute said Gaurav had "agreed to my request".  "His father was asking for some work, so he said he would help and he helped well," he added.

It was around 2 am when Gaurav reached Dadar station with his father. The police had a written questionnaire waiting and he questioned the accused though sign language.

Based on the interrogation, the police arrested the wife of the victim along with another accused, who is also hearing and speech impaired. All three men were apparently at loggerheads over the woman.

Gaurav Satpute, 23, is now a hero, and Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar has felicitated him for his work.

NDTV had to take the help Gaurav's father to communicate with him. "He said he is proud to have helped. He has never come in front of the media," said his father, a constable in the Mumbai Police force. 

"I am very happy,' Rajesh Satpute added. "The Commissioner said that Gaurav has done a glorious job. He is my only son. I have two daughters, both of them can speak. I understand this, we husband and wife never behave negatively with him," he told NDTV.

"He studied in Sadhna Vidyalaya till Class X. He has also done a pipe fitter course from Mazagon Dock Limited. It was Gaurav's efforts due to which the police could understand the entire chain of events," the proud father had told reporters.