The Mumbai Police have declined to believe the statement of Parvez Iqbal Tak, arrested and interrogated in Jammu and Kashmir, that Pakistani-origin Bollywood starlet Laila Khan and her family-members, including her mother, have been shot dead in Maharashtra.
“We are not going to believe in his [Tak’s] statement till we find some proof of the death of the starlet,” a senior official here said on Thursday.
A team of the Mumbai Crime Branch has left for J&K to seek his custody for interrogation.
The Mumbai Police said the J&K police have not yet officially conveyed Tak’s statement to them. “We don’t yet know anything about it, so we can’t comment,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.
Tak changes tack
Tak was arrested by the J&K police last month after a SUV with a Maharashtra-registration number-plate belonging to one of the victims was found in his shop. He told the police that time that Laila, along with her family members, including her mother and sister, had gone to Dubai. He now allegedly told the police that all of them were shot dead in Maharashtra.
Aasif Sheikh, second husband of Laila’s mother, and Tak are believed to have accompanied the family members.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra had tried to trace Laila and her family-members who allegedly went to Kishwar for a wedding.
The Mumbai Police on Thursday said they were investigating the complaint of kidnapping filed by the starlet’s father, Nadir Patel, with the Crime Branch on Wednesday. He filed a missing complaint in February last year soon after they all went missing from their Oshiwara flat.
The Wednesday complaint is against Tak and Sheikh and they have been booked under Sections 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.
“At present, we are investigating two cases. The case about the burning of Sheikh’s farmhouse in Igadpuri has been transferred from the Nashik Rural Police to the Mumbai Crime Branch. We are also looking into the kidnapping case,” a senior officer said.
Laila, whose real name is Reshma Patel, debuted in movie Wafaa opposite Rajesh Khanna.
