The recent murder of 20-year-old Yashashree Shinde from Uran remains fresh in the minds of Navi Mumbaikars, and now another tragic case has emerged. On Wednesday evening, a 19-year-old girl from Seawood was discovered murdered in DPS Lake.
Police report that fishermen who were fishing in the lake first spotted the body and alerted authorities. The victim has been identified as Bhavika More, a junior college student from Nerul. She was reportedly in a relationship with 22-year-old Swastik Patil from Panvel.
“Preliminary findings suggest the girl died from strangulation. The exact cause of death will be confirmed after the post-mortem report,” a police officer stated. CCTV footage shows the couple arriving at the lake on a two-wheeler around 4 pm, but there is no footage of Patil returning. Authorities suspect that he may have also jumped into the lake after strangling More.
Search operations are underway, and if Patil’s body has drifted too far, it may take time to recover. Police from the NRI Coastal police station and crime branch are investigating the case.
It is suspected that a dispute between the couple led to this tragic outcome. The victim’s family includes her mother and sister; her father has passed away. The mother and sister run a photo studio, while Patil works at a medical store in Panvel, and his father is involved in construction.
The families of both Patil and More have been contacted and were unaware of the relationship. As of now, the process of registering an FIR with the NRI Coastal police is ongoing.