Hired killers behind Vira’s murder

The police team probing the murder of RTI activist Bhupendra Vira (72), which took place in Santa Cruz (east) on Saturday night, suspects that three absconding hired criminals played key roles in plotting and executing the crime.

The case was handed over to Mumbai police’s crime branch from the Vakola police on Tuesday, amid suspicions that the hired criminals had been employed for the crime. A police team had searched the victim’s house, where they found more than 15,000 documents related to the alleged illegal activities of the two men arrested in the case — former corporator Razzak Khan (68) and his son Amjad (45). The police are scrutinising the documents hoping to find clues about the crime.

After the crime branch took over the case on Tuesday, five of its teams left the city’s perimeters in search of the three suspects, a senior police officer said. “Our team is working on different aspects of the case. We have found details of the three suspects who are involved in the case,” the officer said. He added, “They are criminals and someone had hired them for Vira’s murder.”

A single, unidentified assailant barged into Vira’s residence in Kalina in Santa Cruz (east) and shot him dead on Saturday night. The police arrested Khan and Amjad in connection with the murder on Monday. Vira was a well-known activist who had raised his voice against several illegal constructions and exposed the local land mafia’s nefarious activities.

The crime branch police conducted a search in Vira’s house as well as in Khan’s house. The police found thousands of documents from Vira’s place about Razzak’s illegal businesses and activities. There are nine cases registered against Khan in two police stations. Of them, only one case is registered at Azad Maidan police station, while the other cases have been lying at the Vakola police station for the past year. The police is also obtaining details from employees who worked for Khan. There have been 15 statements registered in the case so far.