Duo get life term for murder, dumping body in Powai lake

The trial court accepted the prosecution’s case against the two and convicted them and also rejected the defence lawyer’s plea for leniency.

Mumbai: Two men were recently sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing a security supervisor to death and throwing his body into Powai Lake after he tried to stop them from illegally fishing in the lake in April 2017.

The victim tried to stop the two from illegally fishing in the lake late in the night (Image for representation)

Two convicts – Tabrej Khan (33) and Salim Siddique (28) – were arrested in April 2017 for killing Shoaib Khan, who was serving as a supervisor with Maharashtra State Angling Association, Powai. The victim tried to stop the two from illegally fishing in the lake late in the night. The prosecution claimed that the two were known among the security personnel for putting nets for fishing in the lake illegally and selling the catch in the local market.

The sole eye witness to the incident – Gulab Shaikh, who also worked as a security guard – had told the court that he and three others – Jafar Shaikh, Dharmendra Verma and Maheboob Patel – were deployed at the Lake as security guards while Khan was their manager.

Gulab told the court that on April 17, 2017, he, Jaffar and Khan were on duty while Jaffar was late on the day. He claimed that after having one round of the lake in their boats, Khan and Gulab went for dinner and Jaffar too joined them.

Gulab said at around 10 PM, Jaffar received a call from the two accused. He further said that Khan and Jaffar went to get them and all of them had dinner. At that time the accused told Khan that they could show him the place where others too had put nets for fishing as he was stopping the two from putting their nets.

Gulab said while they all went inside the lake in a boat, Tabrej stopped the boat and removed a knife he was hiding. Gulab deposed that Tabrez demanded ₹2 lakh and also asked for their mobiles and when Khan objected, the two stabbed him and threw him in the lake.

Gulab said the two threatened them as well, but they escaped unhurt. Gulab and Jaffar then went to the police station and reported the incident. Khan’s body was fished out the next day. The post-mortem revealed that the victim had suffered 14 external stab injuries.

The trial court accepted the prosecution’s case against the two and convicted them. It also rejected the defence lawyer’s plea for leniency, observing that, “the offences committed by the accused are neither under duress nor on the provocation on the part of the deceased Shoaib Khan but the accused committed the offence to commit theft from the lake and the deceased was prohibiting them while performing his duty honestly.”