A routine lunch stop at a highway dhaba turned into the pivotal moment that cracked a chilling 2012 murder case for the Mumbai Police crime branch. The accused, being taken to a crime scene, broke down and confessed upon seeing the eatery, assuming the police knew he had dined there after the crime.
The Disappearance and Grisly Discovery
The case revolves around Hakim Khambati, the owner of a building on Lamington Road that had collapsed in 2009. In 2012, Khambati went missing. Police investigation traced the last signal from his mobile phone to Charoti Naka near Vasai in Palghar district. It was there that authorities discovered his decomposed body.
Investigators soon zeroed in on Irfan Yunus Namakwala as a prime suspect. Namakwala was allegedly embroiled in a bitter property dispute with Khambati. However, despite strong suspicion, the police lacked the concrete evidence needed to formally charge and arrest him for the murder.
The Fateful Trip to the Crime Scene
With traditional leads going cold, police officers decided to take a different approach. They planned to drive Namakwala to the site where Khambati's body was recovered, hoping the journey might trigger a reaction. En route to the location in Thane district, the police team decided to stop for lunch.
They pulled into the Kinara Dhaba at Bhayander on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. This impromptu decision proved to be the breakthrough. The moment they arrived at the dhaba, Namakwala panicked, his face reportedly losing all colour.
Believing the police had deliberately brought him to that specific dhaba because they knew he had eaten there after committing the murder, Namakwala crumbled. He not only confessed to his full role in the crime but also, ironically, praised the police for their "tricky investigation."
The Conspiracy and Legal Proceedings
In his confession, Namakwala alleged that he and two other individuals – Mohammed Ansari and Ahmed Sorathiya – were involved in killing Hakim Khambati. The motive was property-related. After the murder, the trio allegedly created a fake power of attorney document to show they had permission to redevelop the Yusuf Manzil building, which was owned by Khambati.
Following the confession, police arrested all three accused in 2012. They were charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including:
- 302 (murder)
- 365 (kidnapping and abducting)
- 201 (causing disappearance of evidence)
- 465 (forgery) and 420 (cheating)
The legal journey that followed saw several twists. The Bombay High Court granted Namakwala bail in October 2013. However, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in 2018 after he failed to appear for a hearing. Once produced in court, he was sent to judicial custody. He was again granted bail by a sessions court in April 2019, with conditions that he not leave Mumbai without permission.
In a recent development, the case was transferred from a fast track court in Sewree to a sessions court in October 2025. The trial in this over-a-decade-old case is still ongoing and awaits completion.
Police later revealed an intriguing twist of fate: their stop at Kinara Dhaba was unplanned. They had initially intended to eat at a different eatery in Manor but changed their minds. This simple, random decision ultimately led to the confession that cracked the case wide open.
