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Meerut murders: 5 days on, key suspect still on the run
Meerut police struggle to capture key murder suspect Mohd Naeem, linked to the brutal killings of his stepbrother, family, and alleged sorcery practices.
Even after five days of marathon effort from Meerut to Mumbai, the state police have failed to arrest Mohd Naeem who is the key suspect in the murders of his stepbrother Mohd Moin, his wife Aasma, and their three daughters, aged between one and 8 years, inside their one room rented house in Sohail Garden locality under Lisarigate police station of Meerut on the intervening night of January 8 and 9.
“As many as eight different police teams are deployed to track, trace and arrest the key suspect as soon as possible but he is not being found at his hideouts in Mumbai. Some of his accomplices have been taken into custody in Mumbai and further efforts are on,” said Meerut Zone, additional director general (ADG) of police, Dhruv Kant Thakur and added, “Several startling revelations regarding Naeem, however, has surfaced during the course of investigation and police are analyzing the fresh details to ascertain exact reason behind the crime”.
Another police official privy to the investigation informed that Naeem is suspected of practicing sorcery and used his different identity in Mumbai. He said this detail has added another angle in the investigation as the motive behind the killings are still not ascertained.
He said two of his accomplices have been taken into custody from his hideout in Malegaon, Mumbai. He said the police came to know about Naeem’s another hideout in Ahmednagar locality of Malad, Mumbai where people know Naeem with different name Zamal. He is using the SIM card on different person’s identity. He said two teams are still camping in Mumbai in search of the key suspect, he added.
He said the role of his childhood friend Usman, an e-rickshaw puller, is also under scanner as the key suspect used the same e-rickshaw to reach the house of the deceased family as visible in different CCTv footages retrieved during the police investigation. Besides, a bag containing a cutter and blood stained clothes have been found from Usman’s house in Zaidi farms of Samar Garden locality in Meerut, he said.
The police official further said Usman’s teenage daughter informed that Naeem visited the house on January 9 hours before the murders were discovered and left keeping the bag asking not to touch it. He said Usman is being further quizzed whether he was aware about Naeem’s intention or assisted him to execute the crime.
Notably, the police suspected the role of Naeem and his adopted son Salman in the gruesome murders of the mason Mohd Moin, his wife Aasma and the couple’s three daughters, Afsha (8), Aziza (4) and Adiba (1).
Earlier, the police claimed that the crime scene examination suggested that the crime had been committed by more than one person, and they were familiar with the family as the one room house showed no forced entry. It is also suspected that the deceased were given sedative before being killed as no resistance was shown by them. Besides, four of them including the couple and their two daughters, Afsha (4 years), and Aziza (4 years) were murdered by hitting hard on head with an iron rod multiple times and slitting throats while younger daughter Adiba was strangulated to death.
