Four-year-old murdered: Accused fought with father, wanted revenge, say cops

Bhoiwada Police claimed to have solved the alleged murder of the four-year-old girl whose body was found near her house in Bhiwandi. The police said the girl was murdered to exact revenge from her father, police said. According to police, the child, Payal Prasad, went to play near her house on April 1 but never returned home. On April 4, police found her body 300 metres away from her house.

“Her body was found in a bad condition. Not only had the body started decomposing, it had several injuries. Both the hands were broken from the shoulder,” said an officer investigating the case. The accused, identified as Abed Mohammad Ajmeer Shaikh (20), was arrested from Bihar. “Upon investigation, we found out that the man, living in the same area, had gone missing the same day as the girl. He had left for his village, he told his friends. Some of the children playing at the same ground where Payal was last seen had also seen him. So, we sent a team to his village in Bihar, where he confessed to his crime,” the officer stated.

According to police, Shaikh had had a fight with the girl’s father a couple of months ago. “Mahadev Prasad (30), Payal’s father ran a paan shop and Shaikh had taken items worth Rs 1,500. When he did not pay up, Prasad had confronted him and even beaten him up. This was the main reason behind Shaikh kidnapping and killing the four-year-old,” said a senior officer, privy to the investigation.

“He has been brought back from Bihar and will be presented in court on Wednesday morning,” said the officer from
police.