Tiwari murder case: Lawyer held for driving killers to Nepal border
THE LAWYER WAS PICKED UP FROM BAREILLY AND BROUGHT FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE ALLEGED KILLERS TO RECONSTRUCT THE SEQUENCE AFTER TIWARI’S MURDER
LUCKNOW: A Delhi-based lawyer was arrested here on Friday after he was cross-questioned with two alleged killers of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwar, said senior state police officials familiar with the investigation.
The lawyer, Mohammed Naved Raza Siddiqui, allegedly provided logistical support to the alleged killers after the crime, they added.
Assistant superintendent of police (West) Vikas Chandra Tripathi confirmed the lawyer would be booked under sections 201 (concealment of evidence) and 216 (harbouring criminals) of the Indian Penal Code.
The two alleged killers, Ashfaq Sheikh Hussain and Moinuddin Khurshid Pathan, are in twoday police custody since Friday morning. The lawyer was picked up from Bareilly on Thursday. He was brought face-to-face with the alleged killers on Friday to reconstruct the entire sequence after the murder of Tiwari, leader of the little known Hindu Samaj Party.
Another official privy to investigation said the lawyer helped the two killers sneak into Nepal through Lakhimpur Kheri’s Gauri Fanta area on the India-nepal border on October 19. He said the lawyer, a Bareilly resident who practises in Delhi, drove the two killers to the border at Gauri Fanta in his sedan from Bareilly. He dropped them a few metres before the border, the officer said.
He said the lawyer asked the two alleged killers to mingle among two groups of local people crossing the border.
The lawyer later crossed the border too and picked up the two alleged killers again so that he could drop them at accommodaanchored tion arranged in Nepal, the officials said.
The official said the two alleged killers stayed at the hideout in Nepal for several hours on October 20 where the lawyer helped them get two new mobile phones and SIM cards through his local contact. Naved helped them return to India through a contact who dropped them on his motorcycle on the evening of October 20.
The official said so far the probe suggested that Naved was not aware of the plan before Tiwari’s murder, but he helped the two killers after the crime despite becoming aware of the killing afterwards.
He said the lawyer came into contact with the two killers through Sayyed Asim Ali, who was arrested from Nagpur by the Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad on October 20.
Meawhile, the Lucknow police arrested two more people for helping the Tiwari’s killers, an official said.
Those arrested were identified as Raees, who owns a mobile shop, and Asif, who owns an accessories shop.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday asked the Kerala government to give ~ 25 lakh each as interim compensation to the owners of Maradu flats, being demolished on the court’s orders for violation of environment norms by builders, after it was informed that they have been given a lower amount.
A bench of justices Arun Mishra and S Ravindra Bhat asked the builders of Maradu flats to deposit ~ 20 crore within one month with the court-appointed committee in the matter. The top court said the attached bank account of the builders will be detached for depositing the amount.
It also rejected a prayer of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) that the flats should not be demolished and put to some other use. “We are not going back from our demolition orders. ... Our order is final,” the bench said while rejecting the plea of CREDAI.