Wadala murder: 12-year-old victim’s parents refused to accept body

MUMBAI: The family of the 12-year-old boy, whose mutilated body was found by the police on March 4 in Wadala, has refused to take the remains, even as the police have blood samples of the victim’s mother for DNA profiling – to verify the identity of the child.
“We will not take the body till the time they (the police) arrest the accused. I lost my only son in the incident. We had caught the accused and taken him to the Wadala T T police station, but the night duty officer allowed the accused, Bipul Shikari, to step out to wash his face and he fled. The cops didn’t search for the accused at night and only started the search for him the next day. Till then he managed to flee and leave Mumbai. Had the cops acted in time, maybe my son could have been with me today,” said the 49-year-old father of the boy who works as a fisherman and stays in a chawl in Wadala East.
“I sell fish and used to stay with my 42-year-old wife and my 12-year-old son who used to study in standard sixth. He was my only hope and life support. His death has left us shattered. Since the time he went missing on January 28, I visited the police station regularly but got only assurances,” said the father.
Meanwhile, the police have formed several teams which have visited West Bengal – the native place of the accused, Samba in Jammu and Kashmir from where Shikari had called his mother and even Hyderabad, Delhi, and Pune, but haven’t got any clue to his whereabouts.
“The accused Shikari after the kidnapping of the child went to Pune by bus and then left for Delhi and from there on a bus to Samba and had used a co-passenger’s phone to call his mother, calling for his Aadhar card on February 1,” said a police officer.
Our three teams are still out of Mumbai searching for the accused. “What is making it difficult to trace the accused is that he doesn’t use a mobile phone. We are relying on old techniques like informants and CCTV cameras to find his trail,” said a police officer.
The police have also started an inquiry against a police-sub-inspector who allowed the accused Shikari to leave the police station.
“Shikari is already convicted in a murder case in West Bengal and has been sentenced to life,” said the police. The police said the post-mortem report has not been concluded, and the doctors have reserved their opinion in terms of the cause of death and sexual assault.