‘Notice to demolish accused’s home prompted Vira murder’

MUMBAI: The police chargesheet filed on Thursday in the 2016 murder of activist Bhupendra Vira (61) pins the motive on revenge. The BMC had sent a demolition notice over two “illegal” floors contructed at the Kalina residence of former corporator Razzak Khan’s son Amjad. Vira had first filed a civil suit in 2010 over alleged illegal constructions against Khan (78) in Dindoshi court, and subsequently lodged multiple civic complaints against him.
The chargesheet stated that on October 14, 2016, the BMC served four demolition notices over Khan’s unauthorized constructions in Kalina, and 40-year-old Amjad’s own building, Lalla Mansion, where he had built two illegal floors.On October 15, Amjad visited his father, who told him about the notices. The duo then planned to bump off Vira.
The activist was watching TV alone in his room in a Kalina chawl at 9.30pm when Khan shot him and fled.
The CCTV footage of a pathology laboratory situated outside Vira’s home served as key technical evidence as it showed Amjad enter and exit it during the time the crime was committed.
The father-son duo was booked under Indian Penal Code sections for murder and criminal conspiracy as well as under the Arms Act.
During his interrogation, Amjad told senior officer Pandurang Vawal that he had killed Vira and his father was innocent. The chargesheet, though, stated that both had hatched a criminal conspiracy to eliminate Vira over a property issue.
The crime branch has annexed copies of the four BMC as well as Lokayukta demolition notices and a civil court eviction suit filed by Vira against Khan over a godown in Kalina. It has also annexed the demolition notice of Amjad’s building.
The chargesheet further stated that there are 93 witnesses in the case, including a minor who saw Amjad sneak into the narrow lane to Vira’s residence. It stated that Amjad had procured a country-made 7.65 pistol and 12 rounds immediately after 2010 when he first had a spat with Vira over the same property issue. Cops have also annexed the 2010 FIR copy where Khan and Amjad were arrested for attacking Vira’s son, Mayur, with sharp weapons after he fought with them for grabbing his 600-square-foot godown in Chandu Studio Compound, a few metres from his residence.