Succession battle led to eunuch’s murder, 1 held

The murder of a eunuch community leader at Parksite has been solved.

The murder of a eunuch community leader at Parksite has been solved.

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On Saturday night, the police arrested an associate of the late community leader, who had been tipped to be successor of the All India Hijara Association by the deceased herself, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 7, Sanjay Shintre said.

The police said Barkat Ali alias Asha Ansar, 49, hired goons to kill Shabbir Mohammed Ansar alias Gopiamma, 55, the president of the association, so that she could not change her mind and name somebody else as her successor.

Ali was remanded to police custody for two days after she was produced before the holiday court on Sunday.

On Friday, three armed men had barged into Gopiamma's house at Parksite. They allegedly locked three of her associates in another room and strangled her with her gold chain.

The police on Saturday detained the three associates, including Ali who was at Gopiamma’s residence when she was killed.

Shintre said the police suspected Ali from the start. They are still to know the identity of the killers hired by Ali.

Shintre said that minutes after the police reached Ansar’s residence, Ali told the police Gopiamma was changing clothes.

“That is when we began suspecting her. The eunuchs give all their income to the leader of the group which comes to around Rs 10 lakh per month, which probably drove Ali to commit the crime,” said Shintre.

Edgar Braganza, Ali’s lawyer told the holiday court that she was not even present in the house at the time of murder. He said Ali was at her house, about 500 m away from the spot, where she was engaged in a conversation with two BMC employees and a plumber.

“Besides, Ali had already been declared a successor to Gopiamma and she knew that eunuchs would not change their declaration,” said Braganza while dismissing the police contention.