<![CDATA[Navi Mumbai: The Mumbai police Department had arrested him after a great deal of investigation was conducted by the police to confirm that the accused is truly him. He was put placed as a high priority target as he is accused to have sexually assaulted fifteen minor girls. The police suspect that he could have attacked many more. In his family Abdul Qureshi aged 34, is the third of four siblings, and has been impatient to get married. The Navi Mumbai Police claim to have evidence to indicate that Qureshi is a serial rapist, who found his victims in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar. They had been on the lookout for him for a year. The first offence committed by him is in the year 2016 in the jurisdiction of the Navghar police station in Mira Road, and by August 2017, the police were sure that the same man was responsible for offences registered with Rabale, APMC and Koparkhairane police stations. The police after 24 hours of sustained interrogation, got the confession from Qureshi. He himself does not have an account of how many young girls he has assaulted so far. The accused Qureshi told his interrogators as he had a stone face that something used to happen to him and he used to do it. He also said that every time there was a fight he found himself targeting a minor. If Qureshi is to be believed, his actions were a release for his frustration over his financial struggles as well as his inability to get married. Qureshi was born on June 28, 1984 in Parel, he lost his father at the age of thirteen. His father owned a mutton shop but had sold it, and relocated to Lucknow to start anew but he was shot dead and robbed of the money meant for the start-up. Qureshi’s eldest brother, the only one among the four brothers who is financially sound and settled in Dubai, had promised to arrange Qureshi’s marriage. Since Qureshi had an elder brother he had to wait for his elder brother’s marriage but since Irfan, his elder brother became disfigured after he slipped into hot oil he has stopped stepping out of the house and has been rejecting his marriage proposals. Qureshi had to remain unmarried, the police said. Mr. Doshi said that whatever is his motivations, Qureshi chose victims randomly. They were all girls between ten and fifteen years old. Qureshi said to the police that he never had a fixed target. He knew people living near the railway station who belong to lower strata and he would make his rounds in the area and target any minor whom he would notice. He has also admitted that he also had a few failed attempts. Qureshi would approach a girl and say that her father had called for her or say that she had to collect a parcel for her father. The girl would then go along with him. He used to take them either to buildings that were under construction or isolated areas and would say that there was an insect on her dress and undress her. A few times he threatened to film the victim if she didn’t stay calm. Qureshi fled whenever a girl raised an alarm. Out of the 15 cases reported against him, seven are of rape and others are of molestation. In most cases, he fled the spot after the assault. The Police found CCTV footage of him at the spot of two such incidents at Navi Mumbai in April and August, 2017. The victims identified him. He had an odd manner of walking. He walked with a tilt to his body, moving his right hand and keeping his left shoulder stiff. When police asked why he picked only minors, Qureshi replied that he didn't know what he was doing and why. The police however have a theory, Qureshi is all of five feet and three inches tall, and lean, with a potbelly. Police think older women might have been able to keep him off. The police have taken his laptop and cell phone. Even if he wore a cap as seen in some of the footage, a small portion of hair used to be visible on forehead. From the period of 2008 to 2015, Qureshi worked in Damam, Saudi Arabia as a salesman in a firm that sold hydraulic machines, earning close to Rs 55,000. He returned to Mumbai with a business plan, which he intended to continue with a friend. He told police that he had been looking for suppliers in Mumbai who could provide him raw materials for civil work at cheaper rates and has been travelling across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for this. Being a resident of Owe village in Kharghar, he chose his first target in his neighborhood. He approached the minor girl and said that her father was asking for her. She started following him but a neighbor raised an alarm, after which he was handed over to the police. Qureshi spent three months behind the bars before being released on bail, but soon after his release he began to continue the same even after he moved from Kharghar to Mira Road. The Navi Mumbai police scanned 500 hours of CCTV footage, examined Call Detail Records of over 2,600 numbers, interrogated about a hundred people, and a dedicated WhatsApp group of 36 policemen were assigned only to trace and arrest him. The 100 men who were interrogated, were made to walk during interrogation so that the police could match his manner of walk with the suspect. The Anti-Extortion Unit became the center of the investigation, with a projector playing CCTV footage day and night, while policemen studied the footage and mapped his movements. The footage consisted of close to 5 terabytes data. A senior Police Inspector, Crime Branch Unit I, said that after every offence, the accused was seen boarding Thane-bound trains but we could never pinpoint where he alighted. It was only when the bold Qureshi committed three offences within eight days, on September 13, 20 and 22, all of them in Nallasopara, that the police hit the success. CCTV footage helped trace his movements to Mira Road, and it became a location of interest. On September 26, Assistant Police Inspector Mr. Rahul Rakh, Crime Branch Unit I and Police Sub Inspector Mr. Yogesh Waghmare, were watching a lane leading from the Mira Road police station to the Naya Nagar area when their suspect almost literally fell into their hands. Both policemen stared hard as the man, with that peculiar manner of walking, the small pot belly and the distinct hairstyle, came walking up from Naya Nagar. The policemen exchanged several glances before putting out urgent updates on their WhatsApp group. Within minutes, six other policemen slipped into the lane and all eight policemen, in mufti, formed a loose cordon around the man as he walked. The revealing signs emerged, the change in pace, the sneaky glances over his shoulder and the attempts to hide his face. Qureshi turned to run away. It was then he found himself surrounded by policemen.]]>
