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Malihabad Killings: Prime accused, son arrested after 48-hour Lko-Moradabad-Lko chase
Initially, the police got a tip-off that the main accused and his son were hiding at the house of a politician acquaintance in Moradabad, DCP, West, Rahul Raj said.
A 48-hour cat and mouse chase from Lucknow to Moradabad and back led to the arrest of the prime accused in the Maliahabad triple murder case of February 2 -- Lallan Khan alias Siraj and his son Faraz -- from the Dubagga tri-section in the state capital early on Sunday.
Initially, the police got a tip-off that the main accused and his son were hiding at the house of a politician acquaintance in Moradabad, DCP, West, Rahul Raj said.
“We kept a close watch on them through surveillance. We also activated our network of informants to collect locational details of the accused. The accused got a whiff of the police action and they moved to Lucknow to hire an advocate to help them in surrendering in court. We got this information and a team nabbed them,” DCP said.
Simultaneously, the police sounded an alert at bus and railway stations and at the airport. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) were asked to keep an eye out for the arrival of the accused as they had passports of Poland and were planning to fly out of the country.
“We also had issued a lookout notice for the accused and had sealed the porous India-Nepal border as we were tipped off that they may move to Nepal where Siraj has a business set-up,” the officer said.
Teams from the Maal, Malihabad, Rahimabad, Kakori and Dubagga police stations in Lucknow, along with the crime and surveillance wing of the city police’s West zone and the crime branch of the Central zone worked out the case together.
Four people were booked in the murder case, including Siraj’s driver who was arrested the same day. An alleged accomplice Furquan still remains at large.
The killing was the result of a failed land measurement exercise at Mohammad Nagar village, according to the police.
“On February 2 afternoon, Farheed Khan, his cousin brother(Muneer Ahmad Khan alias) Taj Khan, Salman, and Siraj Khan, had gathered at the said piece of land in the presence of the lekhpal. However, there was a dispute and the measurement could not take place. After this, everyone went back, including lekhpal. Farheed Khan, too, reached home. After some time, Siraj and his son Faraz, who are also the relatives of Farheed Khan, reached his house with two accomplices. After a heated exchange, the father and son duo took out a rifle from their Thar SUV, shooting three people dead, including Farheed’s wife Farheen Khan, his son Hanzala Khan (17) and his cousin Taj,” the DCP said.
Both Siraj and Faraz confessed to the crime and disclosed that they killed the victims in a fit of rage, the police said.
According to the police, Siraj said Farheen had made an unsavoury remark about him during the brawl and her words provoked him to shoot her dead.
Gun, two arms licences, Poland passport recovered
The police said they recovered a licenced DBBL (double barrel breach load) gun and two arms licences from Siraj while the team recovered a passport of Poland from Faraz in his name.
“Siraj had as many as 18 cases of crime at Malihabad, Chowk, Kakori and Wazirganj police stations of Lucknow and Behtagokul police station of Hardoi,” the police said.
The DCP said one gun licence for DBBL was issued to Siraj from the Hasanganj police station (in Lucknow) in 1980 and another gun licence of NP (non-prohibited) bore from Malihabad in 1979.
The DCP said in 1990 the Malihabad police had recommended the suspension of Siraj’s licence to the then district magistrate and the same was suspended by DM in 1992.
“But Siraj challenged the suspension of his gun licence in court. The high court reinstated Siraj’s gun licence in 1994,” he said.
