The teenager’s body was buried inside a closed vegetable stall.
The Pimpri police on Thursday found the body of a 17-year-old girl, who was allegedly killed by a vegetable vendor and buried in the Lalbahadur Shastri Pimpri Bhaji Mandal, the main vegetable market in the area. The girl had been missing from Sunday, and her father had lodged a missing persons’ report at the police station.
Police have identified the accused as Feroz Hamid Shaikh (37), a resident of Milind Nagar in Pimpri, who sold vegetables at the mandal. Police suspect that Shaikh was having an affair with the teenager, and he murdered her when she threatened to tell his wife about their relationship. An offence of murder has been registered at the Pimpri police station.
Acting on information from sources, a police team led by Senior Inspector Vivek Muglikar launched a search for Shaikh in the early hours of Thursday and traced him to a private hospital in Chinchwad. The accused is currently undergoing treatment there and will be arrested when he recovers, said police.
Further investigation led police to the vegetable market in Pimpri, where they recovered the body of the girl, which was buried inside a closed vegetable stall. According to police, Shaikh, who is married with two children, was having an affair with the victim. They had an argument on Sunday, during which she allegedly threatened to tell his wife about the affair, said police.
Feroz allegedly strangled her and then buried her in the vegetable market. The father of the victim also worked as labourer in the same market, said police.
