The Hindu : Haren Pandya murder: 4 held in Hyderabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 18, 2003

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Front Page

Haren Pandya murder: 4 held in Hyderabad

By K. Srinivas Reddy

HYDERABAD April 17. An ISI operative, stated to be the prime suspect in the killing of the former Gujarat Minister, Haren Pandya, was arrested in a raid, organised jointly by the personnel of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Andhra Pradesh police, near Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Thursday.

Sources said Asgar Ali, a native of Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh, was taken into custody along with three of his associates — Rauf, Abdul Bari and Iftekhar.

The arrested have been flown to Delhi en route to Ahmedabad, in a chartered flight, which took off from the Hyderabad airport around 7 p.m. The sources said that Asgar Ali, who had jumped bail two years ago, had gone to Pakistan for training. On March 25, he shot Haren Pandya as the latter was alighting from his car in the posh Law Garden locality of Ahmedabad for his regular morning walk. Later, Asgar Ali took shelter in Hyderabad.

Police said Asgar Ali engineered the escape of an alleged communal offender, Mirza Fayaz Baig, from a city court here in 1996. Baig was involved in the killing of Nandraj Goud, a BJP corporator, who had participated in the `kar seva' in Ayodhya. Baig was subsequently shot dead in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir.

Son of a retired police officer, Asgar Ali was arrested by the Nalgonda police and at his instance RDX and two pistols were recovered in Hyderabad five years ago. His mentor, Fasiuddin, who took to crime attacking the `kar sevaks' after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, was shot dead by police here in 1994. Asgar Ali had allegedly vowed to avenge the killing of Fasiuddin.

CBI chief calls on Advani

Our New Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

The CBI director, P. C. Sharma, today called on the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. It is understood that he had discussed the progress of the CBI probe in the Pandya murder case. While Mr. Sharma refused to state what was discussed, the meeting assumes significance in the wake of the arrests in Hyderabad today.

PTI reports from Gandhinagar:

The Congress today accused the Gujarat Government of `criminal irresponsibility' in not providing adequate security to Pandya. The Congress Legislature Party leader, Amarsinh Chaudhary, told reporters that ``considering that Pandya had held portfolios like Home and Revenue, adequate security should have been provided to him.''