Murder case of Dharavi police transferred to Crime Branch as family claims irregularities

The victim’s family has claimed that while it sought a probe into the involvement of four others in the murder, the Dharavi police had instead named the two of them as witnesses in the chargesheet filed in the case.

On February 7, Kadir Zubair Shaikh (22) was assaulted allegedly by a man named Naved Shaikh. Kadir succumbed to his injuries a few days later and a murder case was registered against Naved.

Kadir’s father Zahir informed the Dharavi police that he suspected that the murder was not Naved’s handiwork alone but the conspiracy was hatched by four others, including Naved’s employer Javed Khan and an alleged accomplice, Rehan Ahmed, over a previous enmity over their businesses.

Based on the father’s complaint, the police added the charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code to the case.

Apprehending arrest, Javed and Rehan approached the sessions court seeking pre-arrest bail in March. The Dharavi police opposed their bail plea, stating that the investigation was still in progress and their custodial interrogation was required.

“The police told us that they will interrogate those who we suspected were part of a pre-planned conspiracy to kill my son. We were assured that they were being investigated but were shocked to see them being named as witnesses in the case instead,” said Zahir. He then wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and the case was late last week transferred to the Crime Branch.

Crime Branch officers said that they have begun a probe and are probing whether anyone else was involved in the incident. The suspects have so far not been called for questioning. Zahir said that while he was called at the Crime Branch office once, his statement has not been recorded so far.

A Crime Branch officer said that preliminary inquiry shows that Naved had gotten into a verbal altercation with Kadir’s friend on February 5, leading to the incident. The officer added that they are looking into CCTV camera footage, which shows as Naved being the only assailant, and also whether it is possible that he hit Kadir in self-defence.

The court, in its order in March, had said that merely because Kadir is seen alighting at the spot of the incident, it cannot be said that he had attacked first. It also said that a knife was used to assault him on his stomach, neck and face, which are vital parts of the body, and therefore, showed an intention to kill.

The Crime Branch officers further said that they have been instructed to inquire about the conspiracy angle in the case because the chargesheet has already been filed by the local police.

“We will re-investigate the whole case and try to ascertain whether other people were involved. If we manage to identify the role of other suspects, we will file a supplementary chargesheet or else will submit a report of our investigation,” said an officer.

On May 15, the Dharavi police had arrested brothers Nilesh Chauhan (20) and Anil Chauhan (19) in connection with the rape of a 19-year-old married woman. Although the police had claimed that the woman identified the two persons and thus they were arrested, eventually it came to light that they were at another place when the crime took place.
Following the intervention of Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Vishwas Nangre-Patil, the brothers were released on provisional bail. The police had told the court that it had found no evidence against them.

While the zonal DCP is conducting an inquiry against the policemen, the investigation of the case hs been handed over to the Crime Branch.