Mumbai:

The speech and hearing impaired son of a constable used sign language to communicate with an accused, also suffering from the same disability, to help Mumbai police with their probe into a murder case, an official said on Thursday.

The probe into the case began after the body of a 30-year-old man, later identified as Arshad Ali Sadique Ali Shaikh, was found stuffed in a trolley bag at Dadar railway station on August 5, the official said.

The Dadar railway police, however, ran into a hurdle as the accused, identified as Jay Chawda, was speech and hearing impaired and questioning him to get details about the crime was throwing up difficulties, he said.

“We were seeking the address of Sadhna Vidyalaya, which is a school for speech and hearing impaired children. We needed someone to talk to the accused using sign language etc as part of the probe,” the official said.

While trying to locate the school, the probe team met their colleagues from RAK Marg police station who were on patrol duty in Wadala, including constable Rajesh Satpute.

“Satpute told us the school was in Dadar and that his 23-year-old son Gaurav, who is speech and hearing impaired, was an alumnus of the institution. The railway police team went to Satpute’s residence at 2am, and brought Gaurav to Dadar railway police station,” he informed.

The team gave a questionnaire to Gaurav and asked him to communicate with Chawda, who was apprehended at Dadar railway station with the bag, the official informed.

“Gaurav’s interaction with Chawda ensured we got details of the crime, the co-accused and cause. We have arrested three persons in the case, including the wife of Arshad Ali, who is allegedly in an extramarital relationship with Chawda,” the official said.

Speaking to PTI, constable Rajesh Satpute said he was proud his son managed to help police in a murder case.

“He studied in Sadhna Vidyalaya till Class X. He has also done a pipe fitter course from Mazagon Dock Limited. It was Gaurav’s efforts due to which the police could understand the entire chain of events,” the proud father said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)