After reportedly strangling her boyfriend to death in a Malad East hotel room, the lady allegedly tried to deceive his family and the authorities by sending phony suicide texts from the deceased’s cell phone. On Sunday morning, Barkat Rathod, the accused, flew from Jaipur to Mumbai with the deliberate intention of carrying out the murder.

She sought sanctuary at her mother’s home in Jaipur after the incident and escaped to Gujarat by rail that same day.

Dindoshi Police located the lady, detained her in Jaipur, and returned her to Mumbai on Tuesday based on technological proof, such as CCTV video and phone data records.

In an attempt to deflect attention from herself, the lady allegedly used the victim’s cell phone to send texts to his relatives after killing him, claiming that he had committed suicide as a result of his wife’s claimed mental abuse.

The deceased, 47-year-old I. Mansuri, lived on Mira Road and had an interior design company in Malad’s Orlem neighborhood. His family got a distressing message on Sunday night, allegedly from Mansuri, stating that he had committed himself. His kid went to the Nayanagar police station in alarm and looked for his father.

“In full consciousness, I, Mansuri, declare that there is no relationship between Barkat and me,” the note said. All of this is a conspiracy by my wife, who has planned to discredit Barkat and myself.

“I am committing suicide because of my wife, who is to blame for all of these rumors.”

The son went to hotels in the area and displayed his father’s picture using his last known cellphone position, which indicated Malad East. Employees at the Shalimar Hotel verified that Mansuri had arrived earlier that day with a burqa-clad lady. Two Aadhaar cards were filed in Mansuri’s name and his mother’s name, in accordance with usual practice.

However, the son quickly identified the lady in the burqa as his maternal aunt Barkat Rathod, who resides in Jaipur, rather than his mother after seeing the hotel’s CCTV video.

Mansuri’s corpse was found on the hotel room floor on Sunday night, partially nude. A crew from the Dindoshi police station arrived at the scene after the family quickly notified police control. The corpse was transported to Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon for a post-mortem after a panchnama.

According to the autopsy report, Mansuri died from strangulation. Suicide was definitively ruled out when nail marks and pressure injuries were discovered on his neck.

Police also disclosed that Barkat was Mansuri’s brother-in-law’s wife. There had reportedly been an adulterous affair between the two. Her husband left her and started living apart from their kids after learning of the affair. For the last two years, Barkat had been residing at her mother’s house in Jaipur.

A police officer said, “The deceased was illiterate, which raised immediate suspicion about the content and wording of the messages sent from his phone.”

“We filed a murder case based on the complaint filed by the deceased’s son,” said Senior Inspector Ajay Afale. We located and detained the accused lady from Jaipur with the help of API Om Totawar, our detecting team, and DCP Zone XII Smita Patil. The accused is now being held by the police while an investigation is conducted.