Terror suspect Afroz Shaikh flying high 10 years later

Afroz Shaikh

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Afroz Shaikhwas arrested by the city crime branch in October 2001 for planning to hijack an airliner in theUK and crashing it into the House of Commons on 9/11. A free man now, he says the police’s attempts to ‘‘malign’’ him failed. Thefather of twohadto giveup his career as a pilot and now helpshisfamily in the garment business.

Heoffers namazfivetimes a day now andspends mostof his time with his family. “It was a horrible experience with the city police. I was termed an al Qaida associatein India and arrested on terror charges. But where is the evidence? The entirecasewasfabricated andthe police’s cooked up story fell through in court,” saysAfroz.

“I was framed in eight cases. Just to keep me in custody, the cops booked me in cases of theft, robbery and forgery,” he laughs. He says his family and the media stood by him in the “most difficult time of his life”. Soon after the court acquitted him, he decided to marry a Pune-based HR executive, now ahousewife.

“My two sons go to reputed schools. I don’t want to mix my present with the past but I remember the methods and tactics the police used to harass and malign me. My passport is still with the court so I can’t take up the job of a pilot. What have they achieved by doing this?” Afrozwonders.

His training certificates obtainedfrom Australian,American andBritishflying clubs are withthecourttoo. “Iwanttoexpand my business and go abroad but my passport is with thecourt,” saysAfroz,trying to recollect the date his papers expired a few years ago.

How did he spend six months in jail? “Excellent,” he laughs, “I was not a culprit but framed in the case. My father had arranged homemade food andother stuff in jail.Other inmates would clean my clothes and myfamily would pay them. Even Iwould get a massageservicein jail.” He also contested the 2004 assembly elections as an independentbutlost.

The Case File
Waging war against nation and criminal conspiracy (Pota case); extortion case at Vashi police station; theft case at Azad Maidan; four cases of theft and robbery at various police stations
(acquitted in all); forgery of SSC marksheet
(pending in the high court)

The Times of India, October 11, 2011

Two HC lawyers found murdered in Nagpada

Cops outside the Shaikhs’ first floor residence at Bhendi Bazaar

Woman (60), Nephew Had Planned Haj

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Two Bombay high court lawyers, a 60-year-old woman and her nephew, were found murdered at their BhendiBazaar residenceon Monday evening.

Fahmida Shaikh and Arsh Shaikh (27) were found lying in apoolof bloodin their bedroom after police broke open the lock of their three-room residence in Nagpada. The two were to leavefor Hajon October 29. The J J Marg police received a telephone call from neighbours at 4 pm, informing them that a stenchwasemanating from the Shaikhs’ residence andtheoccupantshad notbeen seen for two days. “It seems the murder took place around two days ago. Nothing seems to be missing or stolen,” said Ashok Durraphe, assistant commissioner of police (crime branch). The police are yet to establish the motiveof the murders.

A police van was stationed near the Minara Masjid Trust building, and the lane was cordoned off as teams went inside the room. The bodies were sent toJJHospitalfor post-mortem.
Fahmida’s husband, Jalal, who was also an advocate, had passed away around eight years ago. “The couple did not have any children, but they adopted Arsh more than two decades ago.ArshwasFahmida’s nephew and had been staying with them,” said a neighbour.

The Shaikhs were a bit reserved but would keep in touch with the neighbours. “Fahmida hadcometoour room on Friday and spoke to us. She spoke about her domestic work and other issues,” added another neighbour. On Sunday, the Shaikhs’ maidfoundthedoor locked and left. She returned on Monday, but again found the door locked,the neighbourssaid.
Arsh marriedon October 23 last year butseparatedfrom his wife after six months. “Fahmida would treat Arsh like a son. They had paid a privatetour operator Rs 5 lakh for the Haj pilgrimage,” said a neighbour.

The Shaikhs owned three rooms in the building. A police officer said, “We did not find any weapon at the spot. There seems to be the involvement of an insider whohad gotthekeys, murdered them and locked the room beforefleeing.” Fahmida’s brother, Iqbal Shaikh, has been in jail for six yearsin a caseunder MCOCA.

AN INSIDER’S JOB?
A 60-year-old woman and her nephew, both high court lawyers, were found murdered in their three-room Bhendi Bazaar residence on Monday
Fahmida Shaikh and Arsh Shaikh were to set off for Haj
After the maid found the door locked for two consecutive days, and the neighbours noticed a stench from the residence, they called up the police
Cops suspect an insider’s job

The Times of India, October 11, 2011

ATS gets no leads out of bike mechanic from UP

13/7 PROBE

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers, probing the July 13 triple blasts, thought they had found a definite lead when they picked up a bike mechanic, Bhima, from Basti in Uttar Pradesh recently. However, it turned out to be another dead end as Bhima’s interrogation yielded precious little and the ATS hadtosubsequently release him.

Bhima’s name cropped up when Arjun Choudhary, who was the caretaker of a scooter that was allegedly stolen and used in the blast at Zaveri Bazaar,toldtheinvestigators about him—after over a month of questioning. “This input came in very late.An ATS team immediately left for Basti. They brought Bhima to Mumbai on a flight from Lucknow. At that time, the cops were hopeful they would have a breakthrough in thecase.Hewaskept attheKalachowkie ATS office,” a police officer said. However, Bhima was released as the ATS could not gather any evidence to link him totheblast.

Choudhary, a Khetwadi resident,toldthecopsthat a fewdays before the blasts, he had given his scooter to Bhima for repair. Bhima, who has a garage at CP Tank, however, kept delaying the work for a couple of days before finally doing it, said an officer. However, the scooter again developed a snag, but this time, Choudhary gave the scooter to Gulam, another mechanic, who repaired it and returned it to him a day before the blasts, the officer added. It was learnt that Bhima had left for Basti on July 13 night, a fact that deepened suspicion about his involvement.

Now, the ATS only has the stolen scooter astheir leadin the case. Meanwhile, Choudhary is stillbeing interrogatedby theinvestigators daily. He has not resumedworksincetheblasts.

“The scooter was a good lead and we were supposed to keep it under wraps. But after it was reported by the media, there has been little progress in the case,” said an ATS source. The ATS officers have questioned over 200 two-wheeler thieves in and around the city but are yet to make a breakthrough.They now believe that it could be the handiwork of a bike thief who came toMumbaifrom elsewhere.

The Times of India, October 8, 20111

IM suspect’s kin did not die due to torture: CID

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Preliminary probe into the alleged custodial death of Faiz Usmani, the elder brother of suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Afzal Usmani, has revealed that he died owing to high blood pressure and not police torture.

The state CID, which was investigating the case, would file its conclusive report by the end of October, said a police source. “We recorded the statements of several police personnel as well as that of Usmani’s family. We will submit our report to the director-general of police,” said a police officer.

Following the 13/7 serial blasts, the crime branch picked up Usmani (43), a grocery shop owner from Govandi, on July 17 and took him to the Chembur unit. There, Usmani started vomiting after which the officials took him to a nearby hospital from where he was shifted to Sion Hospital, where he died. Father of five, Usmani was the sole earning members of his family. After Usmani’s wife, Ruheda, alleged that her husband was tortured to death in police custody, and going by the sensitivity of the 13/7 case, the government ordered the state CID to inquire into the death. Even senior officials from the crime branch were reportedly unaware that Usmani had been rounded up for questioning.

“The CID has collected Usmani’s medical reports. Our probe indicated that his family was beside him when he died. The family alleged that Usmani was tortured to death. But during investigations, we have found that their claim did not corroborate with the facts,” the officer added.


The Times of India, October 7, 2011

Police stn operates from 6 Mhada flats in Chunabhatti

The Chunabhatti police station does not have a lock-up

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Chunabhatti police station operates from six flats on the first and second floors of a sevenstorey Mhada building. Unable to find space to operate from, the police station coversthreesqkm andcaters to aroundfour lakh people.It neither has a lock-up nor women officers.

The station has not been officially inaugurated, but it has been functioning with 80 personnel for two months.“Thereis a space problem in thecity andwe are not getting proper space to start police stations. However, a station was much needed in Chunabhatti,” said Rajnish Seth, joint commissioner of police (law&order).

Thestation,which alsocovers Sion andthe Wadala truck terminal areas partially, has no sub-inspectors or assistant police inspectors. “Head constables act as duty officers and register cases,” a sourcesaid. Thekitchen sinks arestilltherein theflats and thereis nochanging room or rest-room for personnel, though the station has six women constables. “In two months, we have only registered 41 cases of assault, theft and rioting. When we register cases and arrest the accused, we send them to the Ghatkopar police lock-up,” a policeman said.Asmallflaton thesecondfloor isused asthe armory.

Residents of nearby buildings hadobjectedwhen the policestation was started from the flats. In letters to the deputy police commissioner and joint police commissioners, they had stated that they didn’t want a station near their residences. “Criminals will be questioned here. Wedon’twant a policestation here,” the residents had complained. However, over a periodof time,theopposition has “vanished”,the policesaid. Sethsaid, “Howcan weshiftthe policestation? We don’t have space. The police station is to maintain law and order, and for the safety of the publiconly.”

Govandi policestation wassanctioned,butconstruction is pending asthe authoritieshave not yet found space, while the Irla police station proposal has also been sanctioned but there’s no space in VileParle.

The Times of India, October 7, 2011

‘Govt is harassing Sanstha members’

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Right-wing Hindu organization Sanatan Sanstha’s spokesperson Abhay Vartak on Wednesday branded the central government as a thief.“ The Centre is using several tactics to ban the organization,” he alleged. Vartak also claimed that lakhs of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agents are living in the country.

Vartak was reacting to the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s raid on the Sanstha’s headquarters and some residential quarters in north Goa’s Ponda on Tuesday. The Sanstha’s nearly dozen members have been chargesheeted for carrying out blasts in Goa and several other parts of Maharashtra over the last few years.

“The Sanstha is a religious organization but the Congress wants to ban it. Though they can’t ban it, they are harassing our advertisers and donors. Our well-wishers are receiving phone calls from the police asking them not to raise funds for the outfit,” Vartak alleged. He admitted that the two persons, Hanumant Gadkari and Vikaram Bhave, convicted for the Thane and Vashi blasts recently, were the Sanstha’s workers.

“Last night around a hundred police personnel entered the Sanstha’s headquarters and did not even remove their shoes until they were asked to do so. Our sevaks are forced to leave the outfit and are being threatened with arrest. Ours is not a terrorist outfit,” he said.


The Times of India, October 4, 2011

Travel firm ex-director evading arrest in fraud case?

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Former director of Aryarup Travel and Club Resort, Vasuda Deshmukh, has been admitted to David Sassoon Hospital in Pune. She is apparently dodging arrest in a case registered with the city police against her.

Vasuda surrendered before the Nigadi police station in the last week of August in a multi-crore investment fraud. The police are still hunting for her husband, Ravindra, and other partners, including Rajesh Pandey, Rajan Paliwal and Udaysingh Ghorpade. “We visited the Khandala court to take her into custody. She got herself admitted in the hospital after she complained of chest pain,” said an officer from city’s economic offences wing (EOW).

The EOW had registered an FIR against the directors and office- bearers of the firm in 2010. The Deshmukhs floated several schemes in Gujarat, Haryana, Jaipur, Bangalore and Maharashtra. Investors were promised annual returns of 86% to 96% if they put in Rs 5,000 and more in the schemes. Investors who brought in others were entitled to additional returns. The company had opened accounts of its investors on its website www.aryain. “The suspects allotted login names and passwords to the investors and told them that their profit would be automatically transferred to their accounts. The Mumbai police are investigating the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code ,” said a police officer.

The city police said that they had visited a Khandala court with a production warrant but her custody was not granted since she was in hospital. The Khandala police arrested her and later she was sent to Yervada jail from where Vasuda was shifted to the hospital. The EOW had recently issued lookout notices against Vasuda and Ravindra. Sources said the firm’s turnover was in excess of Rs 1,000 crore per annum. Aryarup claimed on various websites that it distributed over Rs 900 crore to its investors in one year. The firm also said that 400 of its investors had earned over Rs one crore. Two plots, totaling 75 acres, owned by the company’s directors were attached by the EOW in February this year. The total value of these plots is around Rs 12.30 crore, said sources. Besides, 17 bank accounts in which investors had deposited Rs 12.5 crore have also been frozen.

The Times of India, October 3, 2011