Samjhauta suspect left home years ago

LOOKING FOR CLUES: The parents of suspect Salman Ahmed live on the fourth floor of Topiwala mansion on Mohammed Ali Road

Had Been Held For Theft On Complaint By Parents, No Other Case Against Him In City

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: Salman Ahmed, one of the six Samjhauta Express suspects arrested in Bikaner, is a school dropout from Mumbai. He was a nuisance at home and had been arrested for theft in 1990 by the LT Marg police on a complaint lodged by his parents. Apart from this he has no record in Mumbai.

The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) reached his parents’ Topiwala Mansion flat at Mohammed Ali Road on Thursday midnight. The ATS recorded the statements of his family members. “They said that he left home six to seven years ago,’’ said an ATS officer.

Another person arrested is a brothel owner, Saira. Her husband, Taj Mohammad, a railway employee, is absconding since the blast took place. Salman used to visit Saira’s house for the last six years. However, the police are yet to disclose how Salman came in touch with Saira and her husband. It is also learnt that Taj Mohammed is originally from Mumbai.

“We have conducted a verification at Salman’s residence. He has not been staying there since many years and we didn’t find anything suspicious about him in Mumbai,’’ said Krish Pal Raghuvanshi, inspector general, ATS.

ATS sources said that Salman’s father, Abdul Sattar, had lodged a complaint against him with the LT Marg police and he was arrested on charges of theft.

“His relatives said that he used to steal things from the locality and when the parents failed to convince him to reform, they handed him over to the police,’’ said an anti-terrorism squad officer.

The family also complained to the police that Salman would beat up his siblings at home. “They told us that he ran away to Ahmedabad around six to seven years ago and fell in love with a Gujarati girl. He reportedly married the girl and would come to Mumbai once or twice a year,’’ police said.

Salman, currently in the custody of the Haryana police, is being interrogated by a joint team of the Haryana police, military intelligence and the intelligence bureau.

When TOI visited Salman’s Topiwala residence on Friday, the corridors of the fourth floor were deserted. Most of the flats were locked from inside. The five-storey building is located in a densely congested Muslim area and flats here cost around Rs 50 lakh.

When asked about Salman, a woman in her mid-20s said, “We have nothing to do with Salman. He never stayed here.’’

The Times of India, Feb 24, 2007

Beer man subjected to further tests

OPENING A CAN OF WORMS

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: While a section of the special investigation team (SIT) is struggling to collect evidence against suspected serial killer Ravindra Kantrulu to prove his involvement in at least seven murders, the accused was on Tuesday subjected to a series of forensic tests at the state forensic science laboratory in Kalina.

Kantrulu is believed to have told forensic experts at Kalina that he liked red colour and hated those who wore this colour. He further said that he wanted to kill his last victim at Marine Drive, but had to kill him on a footover bridge near Income Tax office at Churchgate after he argued with Kantrulu over going there.

According to sources, Kantrulu (36) was subjected to four more tests after his return from the forensic science laboratory at Bangalore. The tests included brain electrical oscillation signature, psychological profiling, polygraph and electro einspallography.

All the four tests were conducted to corroborate the information collected from Kantrulu during a series of forensic tests at Bangalore last week.

“The intention to subject the suspect to a series of tests was to find out the motive behind the killing. The Kalina lab had conducted a brain mapping test on him before he was taken to Bangalore. These (recent) tests were just to corroborate the earlier information and tally the results,’’ said a police officer.

Incidentally, Kantrulu is the first person to be subjected to so many tests at the newly refurbished lab at Kalina.

“We have received the report and it will help us in the investigation. We are exploring all the angles and cannot reveal the content of the report,’’ said zonal deputy commissioner of police Brijesh Singh. While narco analysis test is not admissible as evidence in the court of law, in many cases in the past the courts have accepted brain mapping reports as evidence.

According to the police, the last victim whose body was recovered on January 11 this year was a passive homosexual. A lot of the information collected at the Bangalore FSL was said to be corroborated during the tests in Mumbai.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 22, 2007

Religious bias made beer man target gays: Cops

Ravindra Kantrulu

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The man suspected of serial killings in south Mumbai, Ravindra Kantrulu, alias Abdur Raheem (36), has admitted that he had killed many homosexuals because such sexual behaviour was condemned by Islam, said investigators.

Kantrulu, who is facing charges of theft and murder, admitted during a narco-analysis test that one of his motivations was the victim’s sexual orientation. “During the test in the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory, Kantrulu said Islam banned homosexuality and he hated people who indulged in unnatural sex,’’ said an officer.

Kantrulu’s modus operandi involved identifying pavement dwellers or vagrants who were homosexuals and then befriending them. “He would occasionally treat them to a meal, drug them and after they fell unconscious, would kill them,’’ said the officer.

According to Islamic law, men who indulge in sodomy are liable to be stoned to death.

Deputy commissioner of police (zone-I) Brijesh Singh said the Bangalore lab was yet to submit the results of the brain-mapping, polygraph and narco-analysis tests.

Kantrulu, a Hindu by birth, converted to Islam around six years ago after giving up crime. Kantrulu had been arrested under the National Security Act in the past for his links with the Amar Naik and Dashrath Rane gangs.

Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Arup Patnaik said, “He has been a robber, gangster and police informer and knows how the police would try to make him speak. He would counter investigators’ questions and confuse them. He would talk a lot about many things but not about these cases.’’

Meanwhile, the SIT has sent two more shirts of Kantrulu for a chemical analysis test. Earlier, the police had seized a blood-stained shirt and a chopper from him after picking him up on suspicion.

Kantrulu was booked on February 6 for one of seven unsolved murders committed in Mumbai’s streets between October last year and January this year.
mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 19, 2007

Serial killer being framed, says wife

Suchandana Gupta & Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Raipur/Mumbai: The wife of suspected serial killer Ravindra Kantrulu said on Friday that she fled Mumbai out of fear for herself and her children after her husband was made the prime accused by police in the south Mumbai serial killings case.

Kantrulu, who once worked for the Dashrath Rane and the Amar Naik underworld gangs, had attempted to leave his criminal past behind and became a paid police informer about ten years ago.

Anjali Kantrulu, 38, who is presently in Raipur, claimed that her husband’s knowledge of both the police and the underworld is what has actually got him into trouble. “My husband knows a lot of secrets about the underworld and the police. The police and the underworld ‘bhais’ are hand-in-glove. This is a conspiracy. My husband has been framed because he is a small fry who knew too much,’’ she said.

Anjali also said that she would speak publicly soon, but wants to meet her husband first. “I will speak out on February 20, but I need to have a word with my husband first. I have to meet him once. Can you help me?’’ she pleaded.

In Mumbai, a senior police officer involved in the investigation said that Kantrulu did know a lot about the police and underworld, but if the motive was to frame him he would have been framed by now. “We are taking our time to corroborate the facts and evidence in the case. The police do not frame innocent people,’’ said the officer who did not wish to be named.

Kantrulu, who is a prime suspect in seven murders, reportedly confessed to killing 15 people during narco-analysis in Bangalore on Wednesday.

The Times of India, February 17, 2007

Suspected Serial Killer Kantrulu’s Involvement With The Police And Mafia Was Not Known To Those Who Knew Him

TAKING THE LOW ROAD: The small alley in Dhobi Talao where Ravindra Kantrulu used to sleep on the street

Under a cloud of secrets

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Outside the Baba Bahauddin shrine near Bombay Hospital, the people who run food stalls, juice shops and paanbeedi stalls have suddenly become interested in the day’s news. They buy English, Marathi and Urdu papers and discuss the south Mumbai serial killings. This may not differentiate them from most Mumbaikars, except that they regularly met the prime suspect, 36-year-old Ravindra Kantrulu, everyday for the past several years.

“We are recognising his picture in the papers and so we are reading the news,’’ said one stall owner, who like most people refused to be named. “But before this we never knew he had a criminal past or was a police informer,’’ he added.

Kantrulu, who slept on the nearby 4th Marine Street, had been visiting the dargah for 15 years so he could eat at the shrine where ‘langar’ food, which is funded through charity, was distributed. “He seemed friendly with the police, but only now are we learning about his secret life,’’ said Irishad Sheikh, a stall worker.

Regulars at the shrine are now becoming acquainted with the cloud of secrets under which Kantrulu lived. “Though we don’t know much about him, he told us he left home when he was around 15. He told us his drunken father would beat his mother and when he intervened he was also beaten up,’’ said Saleem Shaikh, owner of a shop Kantrulu visited twice a week.

Kantrulu studied at Our Lady of Dolours School, Marine Lines, before dropping out and selling fruits on the streets as a teenager. His father, Parshuram, was a peon at the school. “His father lost most of their possessions through betting, which upset his mother. She used to beg. Sometimes, Kantrulu gave her money,’’ said Chand Shah, a beggar who has been visiting the Marine Lines shrine for 30 years.

After leaving home, Kantrulu took shelter with drug addicts at Dhobi Talao and visited the shrine thrice a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With food being no problem, Kantrulu didn’t work. Several robbers also visited the shrine and one group befriended Kantrulu. Police said that he joined the Dashrath Rane gang and participated in at least seven crimes. “He knew south Mumbai well and provided them information. Soon he got a higher position in the gang, but was jailed for two years in the mid-1990s,’’ said a police officer.

In 1993, Kantrulu fell in love with a commercial sex worker, Anjali, and married her. They lived in a hut on 4th Marine Street. Later, he was arrested for attempted murder and jailed. In jail, he joined Amar Naik’s gang. In 1997, Naik was killed by police and Kantrulu was arrested.

While in custody, a police officer convinced him to lead a respectable life. Kantrulu was released on bail and became a police informer. “Six years ago, he converted to Islam and took the name Abdur Raheem,’’ said a shop owner near the Marine Lines shrine.

After his conversion, he started a fruit stall outside the shrine, but it was demolished by the BMC since it had no licence. His temporary shanty was also demolished when the road was widened. This led to a fight with his wife and she started living with her parents in Chhatisgarh more often.

Kantrulu’s attempts to reform through marriage, religion, becoming a police informer and running a legitimate business have now fallen apart. If he is the serial killer, then he lived a double life, informing the police by day and murdering at night.

Abdul Gani Shah, 84, who has been visiting the shrine since 1950 said he knew Kantrulu well. “I don’t think he has killed anyone. He would come here regularly, eat and leave quietly. He would smoke ganja or charas, that was all.’’

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 17, 2007

Narco tests confirm brain mapping results

SERIAL MURDERS CASE

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Suspected serial killer Ravindra Kantrulu alias Abdul Rahim was subjected to narcoanalysis tests at the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory on Wednesday. Police sources said that during the tests Kantrulu admitted to carrying out at least four killings.

Kantrulu (36), who was arrested on January 22 on charges of theft, was officially booked in one of the seven serial murder cases on February 6. A brain mapping test was conducted on him on January 29 at Bangalore. A report subsequently submitted before the police stated that the brain mapping test yielded a positive result.

The special investigation team (SIT) probing the seven murders in south Mumbai took Kantrulu to Bangalore for the narco test on Monday night. Top sources in the police said that a set of questions was submitted to the forensic experts in Bangalore on Tuesday and the date for the tests was set for Wednesday. A team of four doctors led by Malini Subramaniam, assistant director, Bangalore FSL, started the tests at around 11 am. The tests continued for almost four hours.

Kantrulu was picked up for questioning in January and the police have recovered a bloodstained shirt and a chopper from him. When contacted, joint commissioner of police (law and order) Arup Patnaik confirmed that a narco-analysis test had been conducted on Kantrulu. However, he refused to divulge any further information about the results of the test.

Kantrulu, former associate of slain gangster Amar Naik, is alleged to have been involved in at least seven cases other than the serial killing charges.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 15, 2007

SERIAL MURDERS CASE

Narco tests confirm brain mapping results

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Suspected serial killer Ravindra Kantrulu alias Abdul Rahim was subjected to narcoanalysis tests at the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory on Wednesday. Police sources said that during the tests Kantrulu admitted to carrying out at least four killings.

Kantrulu (36), who was arrested on January 22 on charges of theft, was officially booked in one of the seven serial murder cases on February 6. A brain mapping test was conducted on him on January 29 at Bangalore. A report subsequently submitted before the police stated that the brain mapping test yielded a positive result.

The special investigation team (SIT) probing the seven murders in south Mumbai took Kantrulu to Bangalore for the narco test on Monday night. Top sources in the police said that a set of questions was submitted to the forensic experts in Bangalore on Tuesday and the date for the tests was set for Wednesday. A team of four doctors led by Malini Subramaniam, assistant director, Bangalore FSL, started the tests at around 11 am. The tests continued for almost four hours.

Kantrulu was picked up for questioning in January and the police have recovered a bloodstained shirt and a chopper from him. When contacted, joint commissioner of police (law and order) Arup Patnaik confirmed that a narco-analysis test had been conducted on Kantrulu. However, he refused to divulge any further information about the results of the test.

Kantrulu, former associate of slain gangster Amar Naik, is alleged to have been involved in at least seven cases other than the serial killing charges.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 15, 2007