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WITH her Take That backpack, gym clothes and some change for sweets, 11-year-old Nayantara Ali unpacked her grandmother and headed to school just after 8am.
She lived a short 15 minute walk away and usually took one of two routes, both of which involved a possible stop at a local candy store.
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She followed this routine strictly, but on this particular day in November, Nayantara, also called Nayan, disappeared and was never seen alive again.
After 25 days of searching, Nayan’s naked body was found, wrapped in a pea-green sheet, just metres from her home.
And now, as the 30th anniversary of her brutal murder approaches, her killer has still not been caught.
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A devoted granddaughter
Nayan’s family immediately knew something was wrong when she failed to return home from school on time at 4pm, as she normally did.
When the school confirmed that she had not arrived that day either, her family immediately feared the worst.
It was completely out of character for the schoolgirl, who lived with her grandmother, aunt and uncle, Aleem Malik, in Forest Gate, east London, as her parents still lived in Pakistan.
She had a special bond with her grandmother, they shared a room and every morning she would spend time braiding Nayan’s long hair for school, before waving her goodbye for the day.
She sometimes teased her grandmother about her “bad” cooking skills, but she was not known for misbehaving or running away.
‘Such things happen every day’
In panic, Mr. Malik called the police, but at the time of Nayan’s disappearance, her family was critical of their responseand claimed it took them three and a half hours to reach the family’s home.
Once there, reports from the time reveal that the family claimed police asked questions such as: “Did you force her to wear Asian clothes? Did you have plans to send her back to Pakistan against her will? Was there an arranged marriage set up for her?”
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It was in stark contrast to the way Nayan’s family responded to the disappearance of Lindsay Rimer, a white girl from Yorkshire, around the same time, a case that attracted a great deal of attention.
Nayan’s uncle, Mr. Malik, told The Independent at the time: “The police refused to believe that Nayan had been abducted.
“’Such things happen every day,’ they said. They just wanted to make excuses.”
However, Detective Chief Inspector Douglas Harvey, of the North East London Major Investigation Department, insisted he was satisfied his team had done their best to find Nayan.
“Mr. Malik’s complaints were unfounded. He wanted us to find his niece. We didn’t do that. He is angry. That is understandable,” he replied.
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A call for help
Five days after Nayan disappeared on November 9, a press conference was called. Her mother was supposed to arrive from Pakistan to announce the appeal.
However, the family was unhappy and wondered why their case had received so little publicity. Mr. Malik felt hurt by the lack of interest.
Mr. Malik later concluded that the press conference had been the “high point.” From then on, it was “all downhill.”
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A body wrapped in a sheet
Despite the criticism, calls for information were made. The search focused on Nayan’s home and two possible 15-minute walking routes she used to get to school.
A friend said she thought she saw her buying candy that morning at a nearby store on Odessa Road.
However, there was also a sweet shop on Dames Road that Nayan often went to. This shop was opposite a large, open green space, Wanstead Flats.
In the first week, 50 temporary employees and 12 CID officers were deployed to follow the trail.
However, Nayan’s disappearance took a heartbreaking turn on November 29, almost a month after she first disappeared, when her body was found.
It was found that the schoolgirl had been sexually abused and assaulted before she was murdered.
If Nayan was alive, she would have come home. She wasn’t, so she must be dead.”
Nayan’s uncle Aleem Malik
Her naked body was wrapped in a green sheet and a piece of pink carpet, buried under rubble and dumped on an abandoned quarry site next to the railway tracks, just metres from her home.
The yard was known as a place where illegal waste was dumped, and whoever put her there probably knew all about it.
Upon hearing the news, Nayan’s distraught mother ran into the street, calling out for her daughter: “Nayan, where are you? Nayan, where are you?”
Nayan’s family was shocked by the gruesome discovery, but also angry with the police for their lack of investigation.
Nayan’s uncle Aleem said: “The police decided this was a family matter – another Asian girl rebelling against her family.
“I kept telling them that Nayan had been kidnapped, but they didn’t take me seriously.”
The Disappearance of Nayantara – A Timeline
November 4, 1994, 8:15 AM: Nayantara heads off to school as she always does, carrying a Take That backpack, her gym clothes, an umbrella and wearing her school uniform.
Later that morning, a friend reported seeing her at a local candy store on Odessa Road, around the corner from her home.
November 4, 1994, 4:00 PM: Nayan’s family becomes concerned when she doesn’t come home. A phone call to the school confirms she didn’t show up that morning, and the police are called.
November 9, 1994: The police organize a press conference, which Nayan’s mother also attends.
November 29, 1994: Nayan’s body was found 25 days after her disappearance, wrapped in a green sheet and dumped in an illegal dumping ground a stone’s throw from her home.
A pea green skin
The case was featured on the BBC programme Crimewatch and the public were asked to call in with any information.
The show focused on two crucial pieces of evidence: a pea-green fitted sheet with an unusual lambrequin attached to it and a six-foot-long thick pink carpet, cut into a circle, that may have once been used as a bedroom rug.
In an interview with the show, Detective Superintendent Doug Harvey said the following about the carpet: “The thing about it is that it looks like it was cut out of a larger piece of carpet in an unprofessional manner.
“Perhaps a viewer knows someone who did this, or the remains are still lying around somewhere.
“It is also possible that the body was carried a short distance through the streets in the carpet.”
Referring to the document, the detective added: “I would hope that if anyone in a very local area has looked over their neighbour’s fence and seen a sheet like that hanging on a washing line or perhaps in a laundry room in a laundromat, then we would hear from them.”
Nayan’s clothes, her school uniform (including a black jumper with the school logo and her red striped tie), an umbrella, gym kit and the school bag she was carrying – a distinctive Take That drawstring bag – were not found.
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“We just wanted a body”
However, the police failed to catch the killer, much to the dismay of Nayan’s family.
“As the weeks went by, we gave up asking the police for information,” Mr Malik said. “It got to the point where all we wanted was the body.
“If Nayan was alive, she would have come home. She wasn’t, so she must be dead.”
Police defended their investigation at the time, with Detective Chief Inspector Douglas Harvey saying: “I have treated Nayan’s disappearance as a potential murder from the day I was assigned to the case.
“As the weeks went by, we stopped asking the police for information. It got to the point where all we wanted was the body.”
Nayan’s uncle, Aleem Malik
“I just didn’t tell the family. I didn’t want to upset them.
“Mr. Malik does not understand police procedure. He does not understand that once we have finished searching, there is little we can do other than follow up on sightings and continue door-to-door enquiries.”
His colleague Detective Frank Weatherley of Leyton Police Station agreed.
He said: “Mr Malik has been sitting in his front room for a few weeks. Just because the search is not happening outside his window, he thinks it is not happening.”
But Mr Malik refused to accept their explanation. He said: “She could have been saved if the police had not typed her.
“To them, Nayan was just an Asian girl unhappy at home, an Asian girl trying to escape a strict, traditional upbringing.
“She died because they didn’t take her disappearance seriously.
“There is nothing more to say.”
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An unanswered mystery
In 2020, a member of the public submitted a request for information to the Metropolitan Police asking for: whether DNA evidence has been found and for an update on the research.
The request was denied and what happened to Nayan that fateful day remains a mystery.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “As with all unsolved murders, the investigation into the killing of 11-year-old Nayantara Ali has been opened and detectives remain committed to bringing justice to her family.”
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