Realtor Ashok wished to bag a larger profit from the Juhu-based Slum Rehabilitation Authority project and hatched a plan to kill Shaikh, said an officer.Realtor Ashok Chaajad, arrested for conspiring about the murder of builder Munaf Shaikh, had been planning to kill him for three months, said a Crime Branch official.
Shaikh’s throat was slit in Juhu on August 9, when he was on his way to a mosque. The police have so far arrested Chaajad, Nadeem Shaikh, who shot Shaikh, as well as Abdul Rahman Latif and Wasim Khan Peshkar, for their involvement in the murder.
Chaajad wished to bag a larger profit from the Juhu-based Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project and hatched a plan to kill Shaikh, said an officer. “Chaajad and his two partners had taken up the SRA project at Juhu Gulli. Due to financial issues, the work at the site had stopped and they had to rope in Shaikh, meaning further division of profit,” the officer added.
The police said Chaajad was aware that his partners would step aside if Shaikh did not take up the project. “As Shaikh is the brother of one of his business partners, Chaajad knew that talking to him about profit-sharing wouldn’t have worked. He thus decided to kill him and hatched a plan with Wasim, his father Peshkar Khalil and brother Naseem Peshkar, who are absconding,” said an officer.
Chaajad promised them a flat worth Rs 5 crore and Rs 35,000 every month. “They also roped in Nadeem Shaikh and Latif, who were promised Rs 10 lakh each. Nadeem went on to kill the builder,” said the officer.
After the police learnt about the conspiracy, sections of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act were invoked against the accused.