Mysterious FB Posts Announcing A Kid's Abduction And Murder Has Shocked Mumbai, Even The Cops

Two Facebook posts announcing a four-year-old boy¡¯s suspected abduction and unexplained death last week have stumped the Mumbai police as there has been no such complaint, or even a call, by the parents and so far, nobody.

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The sudden silence of the boy¡¯s uncle Zain Shaikh ¡ª who wrote the posts, prompting thousands of online ¡®shares¡¯ and prayers by worried Mumbaikars ¡ª has deepened the mystery.

Zain shut down his Facebook account after claiming over the weekend that young Musa Arfat Shaikh had died a day after being possibly kidnapped by the family driver. He gave no further details.

But Zain left the Mumbai police with the headache of verifying and dispelling a series of serious claims. He wrote that the family alerted cops after Musa Arfat vanished last Friday while he was being dropped home in a black Innova. Police officials said on Monday they had received no such complaint.

Zain wrote cops had found the Innova near Dadar TT circle with no sign of the boy or the driver. Police officials said they never discovered such a car. In his last post before deactivating his Facebook page, he said Musa Arfat would be laid to rest in a Mazgaon cemetery on Sunday. Police and this correspondent¡¯s inquiries there revealed no boy matching Musa Arfat¡¯s description had been buried there recently.

Investigators are now trying trace Zain to ascertain if a young boy had really disappeared, and if not, who is Musa Arfat Shaikh and why did Zain make those posts. If he has made up the story, he could be booked for spreading rumours under section 505 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act, said deputy police commissioner Ashok Dudhe, who is the spokesperson for the Mumbai police.

Reuters/representational image

Little is currently known about Zain, where he lives or what he does. He reported his nephew¡¯s disappearance in a lengthy Facebook post at 1.48 pm on Saturday. He also uploaded a picture of an adorable kid with what appears to be a seafront in the background.

¡°The little guy in the above pic is my nephew and the black Innova belongs to us which is driven by our driver from past 4 years,¡± the message read.

¡°ON Friday evening¡­ our driver named Jafar went to drop my nephew at my sister's home which was 20 mins drive from our place. As time passed by my sister called at my number informing that the kid was not home yet. I immediately called at the driver's number but he refused to pick and after an hour his cell was off (sic).¡±

The family, according to Zain, searched for the boy for a few hours before filing a police complaint.

¡°Today morning the police just found our car parked near Dadar T.T circle. It¡¯s almost 18 hours since he is missing and there is no information about him. Request you all to please share this. Contact szain236@gmail.com,¡± Zain wrote.

The post was shared over 10,000 times and around 200 people commented on it, saying they were praying for Musa Arfat¡¯s safe return. Some users were baffled why Zain had not shared any phone number where people could call him with information about the boy. They urged him to share an emergency contact and add a picture of the driver. Zain didn¡¯t update the post.

Around 4 pm on Sunday, he wrote: ¡°My nephew (Musa Arfat Shaikh) is no more. Janaza is after Asar Namaz at Nariyalwadi Kabrastan.¡±

This correspondent sent a message to Zain on Facebook seeking more details about the tragic incident. He replied in the evening saying there was no need to pursue the case. He didn¡¯t even provide the name of the police station where he had lodged a missing person¡¯s complaint.

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Mirror contacted all senior officers from the central and southern region and they denied receiving a complaint about a boy named Musa Arfat Shaikh. But Zain¡¯s two posts were alarming enough to trigger frantic inquiries on Sunday.

The Matunga police still searched for the car described by Zain on Facebook. ¡°Our officers searched the entire area, but found no abandoned black Innova,¡± a senior official said. A police team also went to the cemetery on Sunday, but found no recent record of a funeral for Musa Arfat. This reporter was also there till 6 pm, but no young boy was laid to rest till then.

Zain removed the posts on Sunday evening and deactivated his profile on Monday morning.

¡°A child was brought to the cemetery late on Sunday night. We visited the place again, but the child was not the boy described on Facebook,¡± an investigator said.

DCP Dudhe said they were trying to trace Zain. ¡°There is no record of any such [missing boy¡¯s] complaint in Mumbai. An inquiry has been initiated under the cyber branch of the Mumbai police,¡± he said.