Laila Khan murder case: Prosecution seeks death penalty for Parvez Tak

Tak’s counsel Wahab Khan questioned Chavan’s appointment after a lapse of 12 years since the incident

MUMBAI: The prosecutor in the Laila Khan murder case on Friday sought death penalty for Parvez Tak, who was convicted for killing the starlet and five other members of her family in 2011.

The Supreme Court highlighted the 2022 judgment failed to follow precedent. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“The murder was committed in an inhuman way. The victims were helpless and defenseless. They went with him with trust as he was the husband of one of them and a fatherly figure for the others,” public prosecutor Pankaj Chavan submitted, seeking capital punishment for the accused.

Tak’s counsel Wahab Khan questioned Chavan’s appointment after a lapse of 12 years since the incident. He also sought time from the court to put forth his arguments, following which the matter was posted for May 21.

The bodies of Laila Khan and five other members of her family were found buried in a pit inside the actor’s farmhouse in Igatpuri in July 2012, more than a year after they went missing. The Khans were last seen with Tak, Laila’s mother Celina’s third husband, in Igatpuri, prior to their disappearance and the police suspected that he had murdered them as he wanted to usurp their properties. Tak also wanted to push Laila and her sisters into prostitution, her stepfather and Celina’s second husband Asif Shaikh had alleged.

During investigation, Tak, a forest contractor in Jammu and Kashmir suspected of having links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, admitted that his insecurity had led him to murder Laila Khan and other members of her family.

In the charge sheet submitted at the sessions court, where the trial was underway, the crime branch noted that Tak was offended with the actor and her sisters for refusing to share earnings from their Dubai trip; so, he hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the entire family at their farmhouse and usurp their property. Accordingly, Tak ensured that his associate and a wanted accused, Shakir Hussain Wani, was hired as a watchman at the farmhouse. After the Khans reached the farmhouse with Tak, he had an argument with Celina, following which he hit her with a blunt object leading to her death. Tak subsequently killed the remaining five members of the family with the help of the watchman, the crime branch stated.