Mom killed in Belapur, three-year-old girl abandoned on busy Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai

NAVI MUMBAI: For the last three days, officers at NRI police station in Navi Mumbai have been babysitting a three-year-old girl, who has identified herself as Chakuli, but does not know her residential address. Her mother, who is yet to be identified, has been murdered.
On September 12 morning, a motorist found the toddler abandoned on the busy Palm Beach Road, and four hours later, the police control room received a call about a woman’s body dumped behind a house in an isolated area in Belapur village.As the girl, who was in the care of a woman constable, kept asking for her “aai” (mother in Marathi), an officer put two and two together and the body was shown to her. The toddler immediately identified the body as that of her mother and said her name was Surekha.
The police suspect the woman was murdered by a family member and her daughter abandoned on Palm Beach Road so that she would be hit by a speeding vehicle.
“The girl speaks fluent Marathi despite being so young. She immediately identified the body as that of her mother’s, but could not give her address. She could be from the interiors of Maharashtra; we are still trying to identify the deceased and trace her family or relatives,” said an officer at NRI police station, where an FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons for murder.
The deceased has a heart-shaped tattoo on her right arm with the initials “SS” engraved inside it, a tattoo of a cross on her right palm, and “Surekha Bhim Atangale” inked on her hand.
On September 12 morning, Ruhi Mitra, who lives in NRI Complex, saw the toddler sleeping on Palm Beach Road. “At 6.30am, I was driving my daughter to Seawoods station, when I saw the little girl sleeping blissfully as cars sped past. I, along with locals, took her to a nearby police chowky,” said Mitra.
The girl was then shifted to the NRI police station, where she has been under the care of a woman constable for the last three days. The police have circulated photographs of the deceased woman and the girl among police stations and the public hoping that someone would identify them. “The post-mortem report said the woman was strangled...we are trying to trace her husband,” said an officer.