A gruesome murder has shocked Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi, where 25-year-old Mohammad Taha Ansari killed his 22-year-old wife Muskan, dismembered her body into 17 parts, and dumped them across the city. Police have recovered her severed head but continue searching for the torso and missing parts.
The case came to light on August 30, when locals discovered a woman’s severed head in a bay near the Idgah Road slum and slaughterhouse area of Bhiwandi. The head was sent to the Indira Gandhi Sub-District Hospital for post-mortem.
The victim was soon identified as Parveen alias Muskan (22), who lived just a few meters away from the site with her husband, Mohammad Taha Ansari alias Sonu (25), and their one-year-old child. Muskan’s mother, Hanifa Khan, had lodged a missing persons complaint two days earlier, saying her daughter’s phone was switched off and her son-in-law was avoiding calls. She later identified her daughter’s remains.
Police detained Taha on suspicion, and during interrogation, he allegedly confessed to slitting his wife’s throat, chopping her body into 17 parts, and dumping them across different locations in Bhiwandi to cover up the crime.
“He admitted to the killing, but his statements are inconsistent and contradictory. He keeps giving different reasons for committing the crime,” said Shashikant Borate, DCP Bhiwandi.
According to investigators, Taha at one point claimed that he killed Muskan because she would hit the children. At another time, he suggested she was addicted to drugs. Police, however, maintain that the exact motive is still under investigation.
Muskan had married Taha, a driver by profession, two years ago. Their relationship was allegedly troubled, with frequent quarrels involving her husband and in-laws. Eventually, Muskan shifted to a rented house near Idgah Bay, where she lived with her infant son.
Neighbours told police that Muskan’s rented house had remained locked for four days before the gruesome discovery, further raising suspicions.
So far, only Muskan’s head has been recovered. Her torso and other body parts remain missing, prompting a large-scale search operation.
“We cannot yet confirm where and how he chopped her body. The head was separated, but the rest of the body has not been found. The accused told us he threw the weapon in the water. If we recover it, forensic analysis will help establish the sequence of events,” DCP Borate explained.
Police have pressed forensic teams, dog squads, drones, and the fire brigade into service to locate the missing remains. CCTV footage from the locality has also been scanned, and informers have been alerted.
Taha was produced in court, which remanded him to police custody until September 11. Meanwhile, given the brutality of the case, authorities have set up two Special Investigation Teams (SITs) headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) to oversee the probe.
Bhoiwada Police senior inspector Ashok Ratanparkhi confirmed that efforts are underway to trace the missing body parts, recover the murder weapon, and establish the exact sequence of the killing.
The case has drawn parallels to the infamous Aaftab Poonawala-Shraddha Walkar murder case, sending shockwaves across Maharashtra. Residents of Bhiwandi have expressed anger and demanded justice.
