Body of teacher found dumped in mangroves, Mumbai police suspect in-laws

A 32-year-old woman was allegedly murdered and her body was dumped behind NRI colony, Palm Beach Road on late Wednesday. The site is exactly where Sandhya Singh’s (the sister of music composers Jatin-Lalit) body was found. The woman has been identified and it is suspected that she was killed for dowry.

The deceased Sarita Vaikudkar’s body was found in the mangroves behind NRI Residency on Palm Beach Road. The post-mortem report stated that her was caused by strangulation and that she was hit by something heavy on the head.

A graduate in Science, Sarita married Rakesh, a mechanical engineer, two years ago. They also have a three-month-old baby girl. Rakesh’s father Ramesh is police inspector deployed in Tardeo police station. According to police officials, Sarita was working as a computer teacher in Kharghar. She went missing on February 9 after her husband dropped her off at Vashi.

An officer from the NRI police station police said, “Sarita’s relatives alleged that her in-laws used to harass her for dowry. Her father, who is retired mill worker, had given lakhs of rupees to Sarita’s in-laws. Also, apparently Sarita had told her elder sister that her husband was having an extra marital affair and she had caught him red handed. Two months ago, Sarita’s in-laws demanded more money but when they were told that Sarita’s parents would be unable to pay more money, Rakesh’s family threatened them.”