Kin of Dawood Ibrahim’s sister kills man to whom he lost his job

MUMBAI: A 56-year-old man who looked after a developer’s construction sites was brutally murdered on a busy street in Santacruz (east) on Friday. Abdullah Khan was stabbed with a chopper, bludgeoned with a boulder and assaulted with bamboo by a group of at least four men.

Officials of Vakola police station have identified three of the killers. The key accused, Amir Shaad, is a close relative of Haseena Parkar, sister of wanted don Dawood Ibrahim. The motive for the killing was rivalry as the developer had replaced Shaad with Khan for the job.

Shaad’s daughter is married to Parkar’s son, the police said. “For nearly a decade, Shaad was handling the developer’s work and had made good money,” said a police officer. “The developer soon found out that Shaad had been misappropriating funds. Two years ago, he sacked Shaad and hired Khan in his place. This did not go down well with Shaad.”

Khan, who owned three poultry shops, had married multiple times. He lived in Kalina. Around 2.30pm on Friday, he offered namaaz at a mosque and was heading back to his shop on his two-wheeler. According to witnesses, he slowed down near Kalina church as the road wasn’t in a good condition. Suddenly, the assailants, who had been lying in wait behind autorickshaws, lunged towards him. They first flung chilli powder in Khan’s eyes, forcing him to halt his motorcycle. One of them pulled out a chopper and stabbed him multiple times. The men also clobbered him with bamboo and eventually bludgeoned him with a boulder. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed at shops in the vicinity. The men fled, leaving the bloodied boulder at the crime scene.

Khan's brother, Noora, said, “When we saw my brother’s body, we could not recognise him. The body was lying in a large pool of blood.”

The police said Khan and Shaad had often clashed earlier. Last year, Shaad’s aides had stormed into Khan’s shop and thrashed him. Ten days ago, Shaad had issued threats. A police officer said that one of Shaad’s sons died recently. “Shaad blamed it on black magic practised by Khan. That may have driven him to plot the killing,” said the officer.

The police have registered a case of murder.