Brandy bottle helped police to crack Hyderabad driver's murder case

HYDERABAD: A sealed bottle of brandy placed next to a dead body lying on tracks — this is what helped police crack the murder of 43-year-old driver Md Khaja. On Tuesday, cops held his wife and her lover along with four others for killing him.

On February 21, the Government Railway Police of Nampally police station found the dead body of a man lying on the railway tracks between Borabanda and Hi-Tech city railway stations. Alongside his body, that had multiple injuries, was a sealed bottle of brandy. After autopsy, it was found the injuries could not have been due to being hit by a train. Meanwhile, Saleha Begum (26) of Swaraj Nagar in Borabanda lodged a complaint with SR Nagar police that her husband Md Khaja was missing.

Officials probing the case tracked the details on the bottle and located the wine shop from where it was purchased — Madhapur Wine Mart. They collected CCTV footage from there and found Khaja purchasing and consuming liquor along with another person. Police also analysed the call data records of the victim and his wife and zeroed in on a suspect, 29-year-old auto driver Syed Mujeeb. He confessed to having killed Khaja alsong with his associates Md Ayaz, Mirza Akbar Baig and Sk Zaheer.

Mujeeb said they committed the murder at the behest of their friend Md Tabrez Qureshi who paid them `2 lakh. “All the accused were nabbed in due course and then it came to light that the deceased man’s wife was having an affair with her neighbour Qureshi,” said Sanathnagar inspector E Venkat Reddy. “The duo hatched a plan to eliminate Khaja.”

On Feb 20, Mujeeb followed Khaja to a wine shop and befriended him. “They purchased a bottle of brandy and beer and went near VV Nagar railway tracks to consume it. The other three accused came here and killed him,” added cops. “After killing him, they threw the body on the tracks to avoid suspicion,” they said.