Shami booked for murder bid, rape and assault

KOLKATA: Police have charged India pacer Mohammad Shami under several sections of the IPC, including the non-bailable ones of attempt to murder, rape, assault and criminal intimidation, on the basis of a complaint filed by his wife, alleging domestic violence and infidelity.


A senior officer said the police would soon send a notice under Section 41A of CrPC, asking Shami to present himself before investigators. Shami's mother Anjuman Ara Begum, sister Sabina Anjum, brother Mohd Hasib Ahmed and his wife Shama Parveen were also booked. Police filed the FIR on the basis of Hasin Jahan's complaint made late on Thursday.

"Kolkata police's detective department has already started an investigation. We will look into all the allegations and carry out a thorough probe," joint commissioner (crime) Praveen Tripathi said.

"The sections merit Shami's arrest, but the cops do not need him in their custody as it is a marital dispute. Moreover, he is so famous that he cannot flee without being noticed. But he may be arrested if he refuses to cooperate," a criminal lawyer said. A police picket was posted outside Jahan's apartment in Jadavpur on Friday afternoon.

Jahan on Friday disclosed that several of Shami's relatives had been trying to call her ever since she made the police complaint. "I had informed each one of them about the torture Shami was inflicting on me. But none of them did anything, and instead they urged me to adjust as I was a woman. Why should I listen to them now?" she said.

Jahan alleged that, last December, Shami had forced her into a room at the family's Amroha residence in Uttar Pradesh with his elder brother and locked the door. "He said since I was a model, these things should not bother me much and forced me into a room with his brother, who started touching me inappropriately. He opened the door and let me go only when I screamed," she alleged.

Shami, reacting to these allegations, told reporters in Amroha, that his wife might have lost her mental balance. "I don't know what she is up to. She needs to explain what has changed so much in these few days. We even had a great Holi celebration earlier this month. Now she is suddenly levelling all these accusations on me. I think she has lost her mental balance or it might be her plan to sabotage my career," he said.

Responding to the BCCI's decision to withhold his annual contract, Shami said he had full faith in the cricket body. "Whatever the BCCI has done, it must have done after giving a lot of thought. I have full faith in the BCCI. It will take the right decision regarding my career," he added.