Serial killer brothers’ alleged henchman arrested, quizzed

LUCKNOW :A henchman of alleged serial killer brothers Salim, Rustam and Soharab was arrested from his house near Bawli locality under Talkatora police station in Lucknow on Wednesday, the police said. An illegal firearm and two cartridges were seized from the premises, they said.

The arrested man was being questioned in connection with his suspected involvement and that of the gang run by the serial killer brothers in the shootout in Lucknow’s Sadar area in which eatery owner Deepu Verma, 35, was killed while his staff Pusphraj was injured on September 21.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP), West, Vikas Chandra Tripathi said the arrested man was identified as Amir Khan alias Amir Kalia, 30, resident of Maliahabad. Amir was associated with the gang of serial killer brothers for very long and he was also their close relative, the ASP said. He said Amir had over eight criminal cases, including three of attempt to murder, lodged against him in Lucknow and Unnao.

The suspect was involved in two shootouts aimed at a corporator, Ayaz, and a trader, Alam, in 2012 and 2013 respectively, the ASP said. He said the serial killer brothers were lodged in three different jails for many years but they had been operating their gang through their aides and extorted money from businessmen.

While most of the gang members were now in jail and one of them, Sunil Sharma, was gunned down in an encounter with the police in September 2017, Amir was one of their closest aides who had been out of jail so far. He was suspected to be operating the gang’s activities. The ASP said Amir was also quizzed about the Sadar shootout as the serial killer brothers were from the same locality and had an influence in the area for the past 15 years.HTC