Blue drum horror 2.0? Maharashtra woman, husband kill lover, dumps body in drain

A month after a man from Maharashtra's Mumbra went missing, police cracked the case with the recovery of his decomposed body stuffed inside a green drum and dumped in a drain in Vasai, officials said on Friday.

The incident brought back the stinging memory of Meerut 'blue drum' murder in March 2025, where a woman, with the help of her lover, killed her husband, chopped his body into pieces and sealed them in a drum with wet cement.

In the recent incident, two people have been arrested, while two others remain absconding.

The victim, identified as Arbaz Khan (24), had left Mumbra on April 3 to collect pending payment dues in Dadar but never returned home. His family later approached the police and filed a missing complaint.

During the investigation, Mumbra Police relied on technical surveillance and mobile location analysis, which revealed that Arbaz and his alleged girlfriend, Mehjabeen Sheikh, were together in Vasai on the day he disappeared.

Police questioned Mehjabeen Sheikh and her brother Tariq Sheikh, following which the duo allegedly confessed to their involvement in the crime. According to officials, Mehjabeen's husband Hasan and Tariq's friend Muazzam Pathan were also part of the conspiracy.

Police said the accused killed Arbaz after he allegedly refused to pay ransom money. His body was then stuffed into a green drum and dumped into a drain in Vasai in an attempt to destroy evidence.

The decomposed body was later recovered from the drain, triggering panic in the area.

Mehjabeen Sheikh and Tariq Sheikh have been arrested, while police teams are searching for Hasan and Muazzam Pathan, who are currently on the run.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Priya Dhamale confirmed the arrests and said further investigation into the matter is underway.

The case has drawn parallels with the Meerut "blue drum" murder that surfaced last year. In February 2025, Muskaan Rastogi and her partner Sahil were accused of murdering her husband, Saurabh Rajput, by allegedly lacing his food with sleeping pills.

According to police, the two later dismembered the body into 15 pieces, packed the remains inside a drum filled with wet cement, and intended to dispose of it later.

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