Mumbai:
Bhagyashree Sonawane would not have thought in her wildest dreams that a simple request to her roommate to accompany her grandmother to the bank to collect cash would cost the latter's life.
Bhagyashree's grandmother Mirabai Sitaram Sonawane had sold her property in Kurla and needed to collect an initial payment from a bank in Bandra. She asked her granddaughter to accompany her, but Bhagyashree requested her roommate Nasreen alias Annu Iqbal Shaikh (26) to escort her grandmother to collect the cash. Nasreen willingly agreed.
After Mirabai withdrew the money from the bank, Nasreen suggested that she accompany her to a colony near a lake in Koparkhairane to see some flats that she could purchase from the money she received by selling her property in Kurla.
Once the two women reached the spot, Nasreen allegedly strangled Mirabai, smashed her head and fled with her cash and jewellery.
The Koparkhairane police arrested Nasreen, a call centre employee for allegedly murdering a senior citizen and fleeing with her cash and jewellery. According to investigating officials, the accused carried out the heinous act as she was in desperate need of money.
Heinous crime
The incident came to light on September 18, when walkers found a body of a 65-year-old woman near the Koparkhairane Lake in Sector 20. "At first, we could not identify the dead body. Hence we informed all other police stations and also displayed posters of the woman hoping that someone would provide some information," said Senior Inspector Mukund Hatote from Koparkhairane police station.