Navi Mumbai: A 21-year-old woman was found brutally murdered at a residency lodge in Lonere located along Mumbai-Goa highway in Mangaon taluka of Raigad district on April 20 afternoon. A case has been filed under BNS sections for murder along with rape, and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Police said the woman was found naked and assaulted using a sickle on her head. The suspect, identified as Anis Mohammad Khan Maldar (38) who hails from Talavade village in Lanja taluka, Ratnagiri district, has been detained. He had checked-in alone at the lodge on April 19, after which the victim woman had gone to meet him in the morning the next day. In 2021, after Maldar shifted to Mumbra, he was arrested by Thane police as an accused for kidnapping and murdering his 8-year-old daughter. However, he was acquitted, as the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against him beyond reasonable doubt. It is being probed as to how the accused befriended the victim woman. A police inspector privy to the case said the accused, while checking-in alone at the lodge on Sunday, had provided his Aadhar card photo copy as mandated, which helped the police identify him. It was the housekeeping staff who had found out about the crime, after the accused had checked out of the stay.
