So many rapes against women and minors get reported every month, that often after the initial outrage, they are forgotten by the general public. One such case is the 2010 Nehru Nagar rape-murder case. Two girls aged 6 and 9 were raped and murdered in Nehru Nagar, Mumbai in the months of February and March of 2010 respectively. The crimes which shocked the Kurla locality to the core remained unsolved for over 8 years.
But now after all these years, the families of the deceased girls have found some respite as the police have finally identified the culprit.
Thanks to India’s first DNA Data Bank, the Mumbai police were able to trace the rape and murder of the 9-year-old to serial rapist Rehan Qureshi, who was arrested last month for abusing over 20 children across Navi Mumbai.
Following his arrest, the Navi Mumbai police found out last week that Qureshi had lived in Chunabhatti in 2010 and would visit Nehru Nagar often.
The police immediately sent his DNA sample to the forensic lab in Kalina. They had previously tested almost 5000 DNA samples from history-sheeters with regards to these cases.
Dr Krishna Kulkarni, the forensic lab director was quoted by Mid-day as such:
“A week ago, the Navi Mumbai police sent samples for DNA test for the Nehru Nagar rape and murder cases from 2010. We sent the results on Saturday.”
And while those came back negative, Qureshi’s test came back positive, nailing him for the rape and murder of the 9-year-old, which had in fact taken place on the terrace of the police quarters just a short distance from the Nehru Nagar police station.
Following the new findings, the paedophile confessed to the rape and murder of the 6-year-old child as well. DCP Tushar Doshi says:
“He was involved in two rape and murder cases from Kurla. We have matched his DNA and it is positive in one of the cases.”
Tukaram Pawar, a police naik who used to live in the police quarters where the murder of the 9-year-old took place, says that after following the case all these years, he’s happy that the police have finally nabbed the culprit.
As repulsive as it is to read about such heinous crimes, it is fortunate that the Indian judicial system is advancing with the times. Hopefully, with the help of the DNA Data Bank, more criminals will be put behind bars.