(reproduced from Mumbai Mirror of 20th
October 2007)
Cop kills
9-yr-old son, buries body to hide crime
Constable Shivdas Dharma Mali picks
up son Ashish and flings him across the room
during a violent fight with his wife; the child
dies instantly; Mali buries the body in a jungle
Posted On Saturday,
October 20, 2007
Yogesh Sadhwani
A drunk constable allegedly killed
his nine-year-old son during a violent fight with
his wife on Thursday. To cover up the heinous
deed, constable Shivdas Dharma Mali, 35, attached
to Badlapur police station, apparently buried the
boy’s body in a jungle eight km away.
The crime came to light when residents of his
area, suspicious of his movements on Thursday,
alerted the cops. The Badlapur police then traced
the spot where Mali had buried the body and
exhumed it on Friday afternoon. At the time of
going to press, Mali had been arrested under
Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder).
Constable
Shivdas Dharma Mali, who was present at
the spot when police exhumed his
son’s body, displayed no signs of
remorse or guilt
Around 3 pm on
Thursday, Mali, a resident of Eranjal village in
Badlapur, picked up a fight with his wife Alka.
She said, “He was drunk as usual, and like
he does every day, that day too he started
screaming at me. He also hit me several times
without any provocation and I became
unconscious.” According to the Badlapur
police, the father of three then picked up
nine-year-old Ashish, who was standing nearest to
him, and flung him across the room. The child,
whose skull hit the wall with great force, died
instantly.
However, instead of reporting the matter to the
police, Mali coolly picked up his son’s body
and headed to Moryacha Pada, eight km away. He
dug a 3.5-foot-deep pit and buried the body.
“Residents of Moryacha Pada spotted him
burying the body and got suspicious,” ACP
Suresh Jadhav said. The villagers immediately
reported the matter to Badlapur police station
and two constables were deputed to the spot where
the body had been buried. Simultaneously, police
detained Mali to prevent him from escaping.
On Friday morning, police obtained the requisite
permissions from a local court and the body was
exhumed in the presence of the local tehsildar.
Mali was also present at the spot, but displayed
no signs of remorse or guilt.
A senior police officer in Badlapur said,
“Until about three months back, Mali was
posted at Badlapur police station as a commando.
But he has always been getting into trouble.
About a year ago, he fired a few rounds in the
air from his service weapon at his village. Some
five months back, he also broke the wireless set
at a police chowky near Badlapur railway station.
After the incident, an inquiry was instituted
against him and he was shunted to the police
commissionerate in Thane.” Sources at the
commissionerate say Mali was an alcoholic and
used to lose his temper quite often.
“While drunk, Mali has behaved irresponsibly
several times in the past. He used to abuse his
wife almost every day,” said another
official at Badlapur police station.
* That day my husband was drunk
as usual and hit me several times without
provocation. He then picked up our son and flung
him across the room – Alka Mali, wife
