Thane murders: Couple didn’t interact much, say neighbours; cops suspect honour killing

The Shil Daighar police in Thane registered a case of murder on Thursday after the highly decomposed bodies of Shankar (30) and Priya (22) were found by neighbours. They had been stabbed several times, and Priya had even sustained wounds to her stomach that killed her child.

According to the police, the couple hailed from Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh and had eloped in April last year as Priya’s parents did not approve of their inter-religion marriage. They had been living at the Sagar building in Daighar village just off the old Mumbai-Pune Highway.

In the Daighar building, Alimoon Shaikh, who lives on the first floor, said she had been telling her husband that the couple had not come out of their house for some days. Initially, everyone thought that since Priya was pregnant, she might have been admitted to a hospital.

“However, on Thursday, I saw flies gather near the window of the flat where the Yadavs resided, and the foul stench emanating since Tuesday become worse. I told my husband that something was wrong. We then gathered everyone and broke open the window. The bodies of the couple were lying there. We then contacted the police,” Shaikh said.

Shaikh and other neighbours said that apart from greetings when they passed each other, the couple did not interact much with the residents of the
building.

“Only in the evening while filling water, Priya would sometimes talk to me. She did tell me that she was a Muslim who had converted and that the couple had a love marriage after they ran away from home,” Shaikh said.