Eyewitness had spotted RTI activist’s killer loiter in Vakola

Mumbai crime branch’s probe into the Saturday murder of RTI activist Bhupendra Vira at Vakola in Santa Cruz (east) has revealed that an eyewitness had allegedly seen key accused Amjad Khan loitering around the deceased’s residence hours before the incident. “The eyewitness had seen one of the key accused, Khan, entering the Razzak Chawl area on Saturday,” said a police source.

The officials on Thursday found a weapon in Khan's house after he admitted to the police that he had allegedly plotted Vira's murder and even pulled the trigger on the victim. The police found a 7.65 mm bore pistol at Khan's house.

Sources in the crime branch revealed that they were in the process of talking to neighbours and residents of the chawl. -"We are talking to all shopkeepers in the area and also neighbours of the deceased to ascertain whether they had seen the assailant. We are also trying to determine whether there were more one assailant,-" said a police source. He added that the investigators were also scanning through CCTV footage of the area to place Khan. “We have started looking through all and any of the CCTV cameras in the area that show the access points and exits of the chawl. We are checking who entered the area around the time of the incident,” said a police source.

The investigators have also sent the phone found from Khan for analysis. -"We are going through the call data records of the accused to check whether they had made any previous threat calls to the victim,-" said an officer.

The police said that the accused Khan while having denied that his father Razzak was involved in the murder has not revealed whether he was acting alone.

“We are trying to investigate whether he visited the house alone or with other accused,” said an officer. The officials are also awaiting the ballistics report on the pistol found at Amjad’s house to determine whether it was the weapon used for murder.