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By Sumesh Rajan | April 28, 2026
Mumbai, Maharashtra, INDIA: In a gruesome case that shocked Mumbai’s Andheri locality, police have arrested an elderly woman’s brother and sister-in-law for allegedly murdering her, dumping her body inside a storm water drain, and then filing a false missing complaint to mislead investigators.
The chilling crime surfaced on April 24 when sanitation workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), engaged in pre-monsoon desilting operations, opened a sealed manhole near the compound wall of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) at Marol Pipeline in Andheri East. While clearing a clogged five-foot-deep drainage line, workers discovered decomposed skeletal remains of a woman lodged inside the sewer and immediately informed the Andheri police.
Police registered an Accidental Death Report and launched an intensive investigation. Since the body was in an advanced stage of decomposition, identifying the deceased initially proved difficult. However, investigators noticed that some ornaments — including a bracelet, silver bangles and gold earrings — were still intact, ruling out robbery as a possible motive.
Senior officers then formed nine dedicated teams to cross-check missing person complaints filed across Mumbai police stations. A breakthrough came when the description of the deceased and the jewellery found on the body matched a missing complaint registered at Sahar police station on January 10.
The victim was identified as Blance James Sequeira alias Alice James Siqueira (80), a resident of Alok Chawl in Marol Pipeline.
The missing complaint had been lodged by none other than the victim’s younger brother Joseph Thomas Coelho (65) and his wife Maria Joseph Coelho (63) — a detail that immediately raised suspicion.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone X) Datta Nalawade, the police discreetly called the couple for questioning without revealing that investigators had already connected them to the recovered body.
“We first made them identify the deceased and then questioned the couple and their son separately. During sustained interrogation, contradictions emerged in their statements. Eventually, the accused broke down and confessed, believing all along that they would never be caught,” a police officer said.
Investigations revealed that the deceased had been living with the accused and that frequent quarrels erupted between them over petty domestic issues linked to her old age and dependency. Neighbours also confirmed that arguments between the siblings were a regular occurrence.
Police said that on the night of January 9 leading into January 10, an intense altercation broke out inside the house. Enraged over what they described as the elderly woman’s “constant harassment,” Joseph and Maria allegedly assaulted her. During the scuffle, she was fatally pushed, causing severe head injuries that led to her death on the spot.
Realising the gravity of what had happened, the couple allegedly decided to eliminate all traces of the crime. Under the cover of darkness, they carried the body on their shoulders, opened a nearby closed manhole and dumped the corpse into the storm water drainage channel situated barely a short distance from their residence.
To divert suspicion, the duo later approached Sahar police station and filed a false missing person complaint, claiming that Blance had disappeared.
For over three months, the body remained trapped inside the drain until BMC workers discovered it during monsoon preparedness cleaning.
The Andheri police, under the supervision of DCP Nalawade and a team comprising ACP Gajanan Pawar, Senior Inspector Umesh Machindar, Inspector Vinod Patil and other officers, pieced together the evidence within 24 hours of the body’s recovery.
Both accused have now been arrested and booked under Sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said further investigation is underway, including forensic corroboration and reconstruction of the exact sequence of events
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