Wanted to marry ‘4th suspicious woman’, committed crime in frustration
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 26: The Crime Branch (CB) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) has arrested the prime accused in the Sainik Colony murder case from the Gandhi Nagar area of the district today.
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Sources said Sher Singh from Haryana’s Hissar district, who is employed with a defence force in Jammu, and was posted at Jammu Tawi Railway Station, was arrested from the Gandhi Nagar area this morning in connection with the killing of Mehjabeen Akil Sheikh (30) of West Malad, Mumbai, and causing injuries to two other women, including the deceased’s sister Fatima (21) and colleague Jaspreet Kour (28), at a physiotherapy centre in the Sainik Colony area here.
However, the Crime Branch is yet to issue an official statement regarding the intent of the armed attack on the three women on August 21, sources said the accused committed the crime in frustration as he wanted to marry the “fourth suspicious woman” in the crime, Jyoti Devi alias Vaishali Singh, who was involved in some unfair activities, along with Mehjabeen, her sister Fatima, Jaspreet, and other women.
“The accused was deeply in love with Jyoti Devi and wanted to marry her. To make that happen, he wanted her to quit the dubious business she was involved in. Since that was not happening, the accused, on August 21, came in frustration while searching for his lover.
“When he didn’t see her in physiotherapy centre, where she was involved in some unfair practices, he opened fire on the three women in frustration, leaving them injured,” sources said.
After the incident, they said, two persons who ran the physiotherapy centre, under the command of another person abroad believed to be associated with a high-ranked retired police officer, took the injured to JK Medicity Hospital and presented the incident as a road accident.
They were later taken to ASCOMS Batra and subsequently to Government Medical College Jammu, where Mehjabeen succumbed to her injuries on August 29.
Following this, senior police officers swung into action and got an FIR on charges of murder registered at Police Station Channi Himmat on September 18, and later suspended three police officers, including then SHO Channi Himmat Deepak Pathania, then Incharge Police Post Sainik Colony PSI Wasim Bhatti, and then Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, PSI Rohit Sharma, for alleged lapses in the enquiry.
To ensure a fair and transparent investigation into the matter, the senior police officers also transferred the investigation in the case to the Crime Branch, which is currently probing the matter through a DySP-led Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Besides the arrest of the prime accused, the Crime Branch has also established that the record in the case was tampered with and the crime scene was washed off by the accused, who are in custody.
The suspicious role of the police officers, if any, to pass off the incident as a road accident, is also being investigated by the premier investigation agency of the police, sources added.
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