The Suitcase by the Shore
It was a typical morning on July 26, 2021, as locals strolled along Varsoli Beach in Maharashtra. The soft breeze carried the sound of children playing, families enjoying the gentle waves, and the sun casting a golden hue on the sand. Among the crowd was a young boy, chasing after his ball. As he ran along the edge of the beach, his gaze landed on something unusual—a black suitcase, half-buried in the sand. What caught his attention even more were the houseflies swarming around it and a dark, blood-like liquid seeping from its corners. His heart pounded as he ran to his parents, fear etched on his face.
The boy’s parents followed him to the suitcase, their curiosity piqued but quickly replaced by a deep sense of dread as a foul smell hit them. Something was wrong, very wrong. Without hesitation, they called the police, fearing they had stumbled upon something sinister.
Within minutes, the police arrived, and the once serene beach turned into a scene of tension. Onlookers gathered around as officers pushed through the crowd. The suitcase was opened, revealing a horrifying sight—a headless body, dismembered, wrapped in a bloodstained dress. It was a young woman, and her dress, torn and stained, suggested it might have belonged to a girl. The gruesome discovery sent shockwaves through the crowd, and the beach that was once alive with laughter was now shrouded in silence.
The police quickly moved to secure the area, collecting samples of blood, hair, and the dress as evidence. But one crucial piece was missing: the woman’s head. Despite a thorough search of the beach, it was nowhere to be found, deepening the mystery surrounding the victim’s identity.
The investigation had only just begun, and the police knew they had a difficult road ahead of them. They were left with one burning question: Who was this girl, and what led to her brutal death?
A Silent Investigation
The suitcase murder sent ripples of fear through the community, and the police launched an immediate investigation. Their first challenge was to identify the victim. The body belonged to a woman in her mid-twenties, her hands stained with mehendi, a clue suggesting she was Muslim. Yet, without a head and no immediate identification, the police were left in the dark.
Over the next few days, they scoured Maharashtra, collecting missing persons reports, hoping for a lead. Yet, the case seemed to stall. No one had reported a missing Muslim woman matching the description. Days turned into weeks, and the investigators combed through surveillance footage from nearby CCTV cameras. Strangely, the footage showed nothing suspicious, and the officers were left wondering who could have disposed of the body without leaving a trace.
Months passed, and the case began to fade into the background, pushed aside by new crimes and responsibilities. Even though the gruesome discovery still haunted the police, they were forced to admit defeat. Without any solid leads, the investigation grew colder by the day. The few clues they had—an unidentified body, a blood-stained dress, and a missing head—yielded no answers.
The community, too, moved on. People stopped talking about the headless woman found on the beach. The beachgoers returned, and Varsoli Beach was again filled with the laughter and joy of those unaware of the dark secret the sands had once held. The police, though frustrated, kept the case on file, hoping that one day a missing report would surface, or a lead would emerge to unlock the mystery.
But for 14 long months, the investigation lay dormant. It seemed as though the victim, whoever she was, would remain forever nameless—until one day, out of nowhere, a man walked into the Nalasopara police station, clutching a photo in his hand. His eyes were filled with sorrow as he reported his daughter missing. He explained that it had been over a year since he had last spoken to her.
The officer on duty, initially dismissive, asked him why he had waited so long to report his daughter missing. The man, heavy with grief, explained that he lived far away in Belgaum, Karnataka, and had been trying to reach his daughter, Saniya, for months. She had been married and living in Mumbai with her husband, Asif Sheikh, but had suddenly stopped answering his calls. Her phone had been switched off for nearly a year, and when he tried contacting her husband, Asif, he had received no answers, only evasive responses.
The officer’s ears perked up at the mention of the timeline. Saniya’s father continued, describing how he had even traveled to her apartment in Nalasopara, only to find it locked. The neighbors had told him that the family had moved out almost a year ago, around the same time his daughter disappeared. Something wasn’t right. The officer flipped through the old case files and found what he feared—a report matching the timeline of the Varsoli Beach body. Could the woman found in the suitcase be Saniya?
The Truth Unveiled
The revelation that the missing woman might be Saniya sent shockwaves through the police station. The investigators quickly contacted Saniya’s father, asking him to come to Mumbai to help with the case. During a video call, they showed him the bloodstained dress found in the suitcase. Tears welled up in his eyes as he recognized it—it was the very dress he had gifted his daughter on her last Eid. The grief on his face confirmed what the police had feared all along: the dismembered body found on Varsoli Beach belonged to Saniya.
The police wasted no time in reopening the investigation. Their first move was to track down Asif Sheikh, Saniya’s husband. By the time they arrived at his new residence in Mumbra, Asif seemed calm and unconcerned. When confronted with the evidence, he denied knowing anything about the suitcase or the dress. His parents echoed his claims, insisting that Saniya had run away months ago, leaving behind her family and responsibilities. But something about their demeanor made the investigators suspicious.
As the investigation deepened, so did the cracks in Asif’s story. The police collected hair samples from Saniya’s belongings and compared them with the DNA from the body in the suitcase. The match was undeniable—it was Saniya. Confronted with the evidence, Asif’s calm exterior began to falter. Under intense interrogation, the truth finally began to unravel.
One night, after hours of questioning, Asif broke down. He admitted that on July 21, 2021, the day of Eid, he and his family had made the decision to kill Saniya. The motive? A twisted family feud. Saniya had given birth to a baby girl, and Asif’s family had pressured her to give the child to his sister, who was unable to have children. When Saniya refused, the abuse began. For months, they tortured her, trying to force her to give up her child. But Saniya held firm—she would not part with her daughter.
In the end, Asif’s family saw only one way to resolve the situation. They believed that if Saniya were out of the picture, they could take the child and raise her as their own. On the night of Eid, while their daughter was sent to Asif’s sister’s house, the family acted on their deadly plan. Asif’s father and brother tied Saniya’s hands and legs, suffocating her with water until she died. They then dismembered her body, hoping to conceal the crime. Her head, they disposed of separately, throwing it into the deep waters of Kaniwada Bay to ensure it would never be found.
Asif’s confession shocked the police to their core. The brutality of the crime, the coldness with which the family had planned it, and the lengths they went to cover it up were beyond comprehension. Yet, there was no denying the truth. The police arrested Asif, his parents, and his brother. They also took into custody Asif’s brother-in-law, who had helped dispose of Saniya’s body.
In the days that followed, the community was left reeling. A woman who had endured so much for the sake of her child had been betrayed and killed by those who were supposed to protect her. But justice was finally served. Saniya’s uncle, who had raised her after her parents’ death, wept bitterly as the truth came to light. His niece, the girl he had loved and cared for, had been brutally murdered—but at least now, her killers would pay for their crime.
The case of the suitcase on Varsoli Beach had been solved, but the scars it left behind would never heal. Saniya’s story became a haunting reminder of the darkness that can hide behind closed doors, and the lengths to which people would go for selfish desires. Yet, in the end, it was the truth that prevailed, bringing a sliver of peace to a family broken by tragedy.
