Main accused in Haridwar trader’s murder nabbed

DEHRADUN: Almost three months after a 37 years old trader was shot dead in Haridwar, Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday nabbed a notorious sharpshooter for the sensational shootout, who divulged that it was a case of “mistaken identity”.

Mujahid Khan, a member of Jeeva gang and a former aide of don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, has several criminal cases against him in Uttar Pradesh.

He was arrested near ISBT and a .9mm pistol and some live cartridges were seized from his possession.

Amit Dixit (Goldie) was shot four bullets by motorcycle-borne men in Haridwar on March 6. Dixit hailed from Saharanpur.

One of the accused, Vivek Thakur, was arrested then, but Khan had managed to give a slip to police.

SSP STF Ridhim Aggarwal said, “Khan worked for Jeeva gang, and he had come into contact with Mukhtar Ansari in 2013-14, when the two were in Lucknow jail,” she said.

After the arrest, Khan told police that the Haridwar murder was a case of “mistaken identity”.

Jeeva was at loggerhead with Haridwar-resident Subhash Saini over a property on the Haridwar by-pass road. Jeeva and his gang had hatched the conspiracy to eliminate Saini.

However, Thakur mistook Dixit for Saini and they shot him dead.

Khan told police that he had come to Dehradun to murder a trader and was waiting for an accomplice so that they both could execute the crime. However, the STF team, working on inputs, arrested his from Raipur area.
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