34 years later, Mumbai crime branch officers arrest murder accused

Raynold had told the police that the five men, Jahangir, Sanjay, Santosh, Pascal and Kishore had attended a party at Kashimira in Mira Road

MUMBAI: A 61-year-old murder accused, who has been on the run for 34 years, was arrested by the crime branch officers of the Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police on Monday evening. The accused, Jahangir Shaikh, is one of the five men who killed a man and dumped his body along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in 1990.

The accused, Jahangir Shaikh

In December 1990, based on the complaint lodged by Raynold Christian Amanna, a resident of Marol, Andheri, the crime branch registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against five men for killing the complainant’s 22-year-old brother Gabriel alias Sudhakar Amanna.

Raynold had told the police that the five men, Jahangir, Sanjay, Santosh, Pascal and Kishore had attended a party at Kashimira in Mira Road after which his brother never returned home. “The complainant did not know anything about the accused or the motive behind the murder due to which identifying them became a difficult task for the police,” said a police officer.

After the MBVV commissioner, Madhukar Pandey instructed the department to probe cold cases and arrest the accused, the police officers of the entire region have been collecting information and making efforts to track down the accused involved in old unsolved cases.

On Monday the crime branch officials received a tip that one of the accused, Jahangir, had been staying in Andheri-Kurla Road and working in a local bakery. Accordingly, on Monday evening a team of officials arrested Jahangir who confessed to the crime.

“Jahangir revealed that they had a fight in the party with Gabriel over a petty issue after which the five inebriated men assaulted and killed him,” said a police officer from the MBVV crime branch. The men then dumped the body at the side of the NH-48 highway before fleeing.

While Jahangir has been handed over to the Kashimira police for further investigation, the crime branch officials are now trying to track down the other accused allegedly involved in the murder.