Goon, aide get death for killing NIA officer, wife

BIJNOR: Additional sessions judge Vijay Kumar on Friday sentenced 33-year-old gangster Muneer and his accomplice, 28-year-old Mohd Rayyan, to death for the murder of senior National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer Tanzil Ahmad and his wife in 2016. “The crime was rare and an example should be set in such cases to strengthen people’s faith in the judiciary,” the judge said.
Ahmad, who was probing terror cases related to the Indian Mujahideen as the deputy SP of NIA, was returning home to Delhi on the intervening night of April 2 and 3, 2016, when two bike-borne men stopped his car and fired indiscriminately at him while his children watched in horror, crouched in the back seat of the car. His wife was hit by three bullets. She died on April 13 at AIIMS, New Delhi. The two children miraculously survived.
Muneer, who carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh, was arrested on June 28, 2016, at the Noida-Ghaziabad border. Ahmad and the accused were both from Bijnor’s Sahaspur town in UP. The officer had settled down in Delhi but had gone to his hometown to attend a wedding.
District government counsel (DGC) Varun Rajput told TOI that the court took the decision after 19 witnesses recorded their statements in 107 hearings which took place in a span of six years. At present, both the convicts are lodged in Sonbhadra jail.
Three other accused, Rizwan, Mohammad Jainy and Tanzeem Ahmad, were arrested in the murder case but acquitted.
According to police officials, Muneer’s family includes his father, mother, and sister. His father runs a tiles shop in Moradabad, which he set up with help from his son. Rayyan has completed his high school. His father is an auto mechanic.
In the chargesheet, police said that Muneer was the leader of a gang comprising 16 members. As many as 36 criminal cases, including eight murders and nine attempts to murder, were lodged against the gang.