Pics by Rons Bantwal

Mumbai, Jul 2: The Nehru Nagar police on Thursday arrested Javed Ahmed Rehman Shaikh, 19, on the charges of raping and killing a minor girl in Qureshi Nagar.

DNA samples from the accused matched with the blood samples found under the nails of the victim.

Nusrat Shaikh’s body was found in a decomposed state on June 19, after she went missing nearly two weeks earlier, said police.

However, they are yet to establish Shaikh’s involvement with the two other rapes and murders in the neighbourhood which took place in February and March (see timeline).

Javed Shaikh is employed with a local cable operator and lives in the same neighbourhood as his victim.
 
Anxious residents poured into the bylanes of Nehru Nagar on Thursday morning, as news of Shaikh’s arrest broke out. Among them were family members of two of the other accused who are still in police custody

Elaborating on the investigations, an officer said, “We had collected hundreds of blood samples to find a match with the two rape cases reported earlier.

The third incident took place during the investigations, and we had to collect fresh samples from the same suspects to find a match with the third victim.” Javed, who was among the 100 suspects rounded up, was made to undergo DNA fingerprinting on June 23.

“We are conscious that the two previous cases still remain unsolved and a lot of work needs to be done.

Our efforts in the Nehru Nagar cases will continue unabated,” Sanjeev Dayal said, sharing the details of the breakthrough.

Dayal said the survivors in the two earlier rape attempts (see timeline), who helped police prepare sketches of the suspects, did not identify Javed as the assailant.

The Mumbai police chief said the teams formed to conduct the probe will continue with the investigations, while two more new teams have been formed to interrogate Javed and take the case forward.

Shaikh has been remanded in police custody till July 14.