Woman flies to Mumbai, murders lover in hotel, sends fake suicide messages

A woman allegedly strangled her lover to death inside a hotel room in Malad East and then attempted to mislead both his family and the police by sending fake suicide messages from the deceased`s mobile phone. The accused, identified as Barkat Rathod, had flown from Jaipur to Mumbai on Sunday morning with the premeditated intent to commit the murder.

Following the crime, she fled to Gujarat by train on the same day and later took refuge at her mother’s residence in Jaipur.

Based on technical evidence, including CCTV footage and call data records, Dindoshi Police tracked the woman’s location, arrested her in Jaipur, and brought her back to Mumbai on Tuesday.

According to police sources, after murdering the victim, the woman used his mobile phone to send messages to his family, falsely stating that he had died by suicide due to alleged mental harassment by his wife, a ploy to divert suspicion from herself.

The deceased, identified as I Mansuri, 47, was a resident of Mira Road and ran an interior decoration business in the Orlem area of Malad. On Sunday evening, his family received a disturbing message, purportedly from Mansuri, claiming he had taken his own life. Alarmed, his son approached the Nayanagar police station and searched for his father.

The message read, “I, Mansuri, in full consciousness, declare that there is no relationship between Barkat and me. This is all a conspiracy by my wife, who has plotted this to defame both me and Barkat.”

“My wife is responsible for all these rumours, and it is because of her that I am committing suicide.”

Using his father’s last known mobile location, which showed Malad East, the son visited nearby hotels and showed his father’s photograph. At the Shalimar Hotel, staff confirmed that Mansuri had checked in earlier that day with a woman wearing a burqa. As per standard procedure, two Aadhaar cards were submitted in Mansuri’s name, the other under the name of his mother.

However, upon reviewing the hotel’s CCTV footage, the son immediately recognised that the woman in the burqa was not his mother, but his maternal aunt Barkat Rathod, who lives in Jaipur.

On Sunday evening, Mansuri’s body was discovered semi-naked on the floor of the hotel room. The family promptly alerted police control, and a team from Dindoshi police station reached the location. After conducting a panchnama, the body was sent to Siddharth hospital in Goregaon for post-mortem.

The autopsy report confirmed that Mansuri had been strangled to death. It revealed nail marks and pressure injuries on his neck, conclusively ruling out suicide.

Police further revealed that Barkat was the wife of Mansuri’s brother-in-law. The two had allegedly developed an extramarital relationship. When her husband discovered the affair, he left her and began living separately with their children. Barkat had been living at her maternal home in Jaipur for the last two years.

“The deceased was illiterate, which raised immediate suspicion about the content and wording of the messages sent from his phone,” said a police officer.

Senior Inspector Ajay Afale said, “We registered a case of murder based on the complaint filed by the deceased’s son. Under the guidance of DCP Zone XII Smita Patil, and with the efforts of API Om Totawar and our detection team, we traced and arrested the accused woman from Jaipur. The accused is now in police custody, and further investigation is underway.”

This article first appeared on Mid Day