Actor Laila Khan, 4 other family members were killed in Mumbai

Mumbai Crime Branch arrives today to take Tak
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 4: Bollywood and Lollywood actor Laila Khan, who had acted in various movies in India and Pakistan before she went missing in February 2011, has been killed along with her four family members including mother, sister, brother and a cousin in an isolated area on outskirts of Mumbai few days after her missing.
The killings were executed jointly by Parvez Ahmad Tak, a Kishtwar based criminal, a Bollywood financier, Asif Sheikh alias Sonu, Afghan Khan, a real estate builder and two other criminals, DIG Doda-Ramban range, Gareeb Dass said today after sustained interrogation of Tak was completed by Kishtwar police.
Following sensational disclosure of Tak, which was shared by Kishtwar police with their counterparts in Mumbai, a team of Crime Branch Mumbai is flying here tomorrow to take custody of Tak. Mumbai Police have secured production warrant of Tak from a court to take his custody.
The DIG told the Excelsior that Tak broke during his questioning last night and admitted that Laila Khan along with her four family members had been killed in his presence by four other persons including Mumbai’s financier and real estate developer to capture the property of Laila and her mother Saleena Begum, divorced wife of Nadir Shah Patel, a Mumbai based businessman.
Gareeb Dass said Tak has disclosed during his questioning that Laila Khan, her mother Saleem Begum Patel, siblings Zara Patel and Imran Patel and cousin Reshma Patel alias Laila Khan were all dead.
‘‘All five were taken to an isolated area of Mumbai (the name of which was also not known to Tak but he has admitted that he could still identify the spot) on February 9 on the pretext that they had to fly to Dubai as they had threat to their lives from underworld in view of large property in their possession which Laila’s mother had accessed after divorce from her husband”, the DIG Doda said, adding that two shooters had already been hired by Afghan Khan, Asif Sheikh alias Sonu and Parvez Ahmed Tak, who had married Laila’s mother after divorce from Nadir Shah Patel.
The sharp-shooters, as per the pre-planned strategy, gunned down Laila Khan and her all four family members after they boarded off the vehicles and buried their bodies. All of them later escaped from the spot and reached Jammu in two vehicles-Mitsubishi Outlander and Scorpio.
All of them had stayed in Hotel Asia for three days after which Tak left for Kishtwar in Outlander while they abandoned Scorpio vehicle at Ranbir Market in Jammu City. Khan and Sonu flew back to Mumbai.
Sources said a huge property including cash, jewellery, flats in posh areas etc had been taken over by Khan and Sonu along with some others. Tak was also given some amount besides an Outlander and was asked not to disclose the crime to anybody.
They added that the crime would have remained a mystery as Mumbai police was also unable to work out missing case of the starlet and her family members but for the recovery of Tak’s Outlander from Kishtwar few days back, which had been registered on the name of Laila Khan.
After the recovery of Outlander, Tak had gone underground but was arrested by Kishtwar Police from Bagh-e-Bahu area and subjected to sustained questioning. Initially, he had claimed that Laila Khan had escaped to Dubai along with her other family members for the fear of Khan and Sonu.
However, it was after his sustained interrogation yesterday that he spilled the beans and narrated the entire story from his entry into the house of Laila Khan as a Kashmiri cook to his marriage with Saleena Begum Patel followed by the killing of all five family members.
Mumbai police have, meanwhile, started a hunt for Afghan Khan and Asif Sheikh alias Sonu. However, both of them had gone underground. Only when Khan or Sonu were arrested that police would be able to identity the sharp-shooters hired by them for the killings.
Sources said Parvez Ahmad Tak was not aware about identity of sharp-shooters but he could identify them. He was also unaware of the name of the spot where Laila and her family had been taken with the assurance that they would be flown to Dubai in a helicopter arranged for them by Afghan Khan.
However, Tak has disclosed that the site of killings was about 100 kilometers away from Mumbai and resembled to a small forest area.
Laila Khan, who had acted in some movies in Bollywood and Lollywood had suddenly gone missing in second week of February. Later, it was found that their farm house in Oshiwara had also been burnt. A missing report of Laila and four others was lodged with police by Laila’s father, Nadir Shah Patel. However, despite pursuing various clues, all five had remained untraced.
It was the chance recovery of Laila’s Outlander car in Kishtwar followed by arrest of Parvez Ahmad Tak that gave police a hope that the missing mystery could be solved. It may be mentioned here that Nasik police had remained in Kishtwar for a week after the recovery of Outlander.
PTI adds from Mumbai
Nearly one-and-a-half years after Pakistani-origin Bollywood starlet Laila Khan went missing along with her family members from Mumbai, City police today registered a kidnapping case against two persons, including her family friend who is currently in custody of Jammu and Kashmir Police.
The case was registered in Oshiwara police station on complaint of Laila’s father Nadir Patel, and the investigations are now taken over by the Crime Branch, police said.
The accused duo of Parvez Tak and Aasif Shaikh have been booked under section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Laila was last seen in Bollywood movie ‘Wafa’ with actor Rajesh Khanna.
The last call records of Laila’s mobile phone showed her location at Nashik, police said, adding that Laila had a farm house at Igatpuri in Nashik district.

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