BENGALURU: When the police failed to identify the motive and killers despite exploring all angles for over two years, they were planning to put an end to the investigations in former IAF pilot Parvez Khokhar’s murder case. However, the routine transfer of an officer who had visited the crime scene then, changed the dimension of the probe in the case.
In August 2016, when the investigators were preparing to file a ‘C’ report, S K Umesh was transferred as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Anekal division, Bengaluru rural district. At the time of the incident in 2014, he was working as DSP in Internal Security Division(ISD) and had visited the crime spot following Parvez Khokhar’s murder.
“There were personal, professional and financial angles. Defence personnel also came here to probe the case but could not reach to any conclusion. Since the crime motive was unknown, it was very tough to crack the case,” said police sources.
“There was nothing missing from his house so we could not conclude whether it was murder for gain or old rivalry. Parvez also had a decorated career and held several responsibilities that were not supposed to be shared. All these things complicated matters for cops initially,” they added.
S K Umesh said that he had an inkling that a gang of robbers was involved in the murder. When he heard that Parvez murder case was about to get a C-report (it means undetected due to lack of evidence) on his return to Anekal, he decided to revisit it. He began to track gangs operating in the area and hit the nail.
“We started the investigations afresh and collected information about the habitual offenders. We nabbed Cat Raja gang and Kitty alias Krishna gang and were able to crack more than 100 cases. However, we found that they were not involved in Parvez’s killing.
In August 2016, valuables worth crores were stolen from a bungalow belonging to Zuber Ahmed. When we started the investigations, we found that there was another local gang operating,” said police sources.
They added:”We got a tip-off that the gang members lived within 1 km radius in Anekal and they would meet together only at the crime scene. The gang targeted bungalows and farm houses near Hosur Road and Electronic City.”
Umesh said, “We then identified the gang members and started interrogating them individually. As a part of our plan, we ensured that the accused never communicated to each other and our trick did wonders. Finally the gang members spilled the beans.”