BANGALORE: The city police have solved the one-year-old murder case of Hafeez Shamshul Huda (65), who was the director of Al-quds Minorities Credit Cooperative Society and chief editor of Makhzan, an Urdu-English weekly magazine.
The accused, Syed Salman (30), who was recently arrested by Ashoknagar police for kidnapping and killing his seven-year-old niece, has confessed that he killed Huda for monetary gains, police said.
Huda was found murdered at his office in D J Halli police station limits on July 3 last year.
According to the police, the details of the case are as follows: Last Wednesday, Salman, along with his wife Shabrin Taj (20), kidnapped his niece Ritiba Nisar, a second standard student from Dhanraj Phoolchand Hindi School on Victoria Layout, and later murdered her after demanding a ransom of `10 lakh from her father.
During investigation, the police learnt that Salman was Huda’s elder brother Muslim Shah’s son and he had hatched a plot to kill Huda and rob the cooperative society at Idgah Complex on Tannery Road.
Police sources said Salman and Taj fell in love in 2010 and eloped to Hyderabad, where they got married in a mosque.
After a few months, the couple returned to the city and were staying at Taj’s mother’s house. As Salman was not earning, his mother-in-law quarrelled with him and asked them to leave her house. Then, the couple shifted to an orphanage in Shivajinagar.
Meanwhile, Salman approached his father who worked in Huda’s office and asked for some monetary help. Huda had given a loan of ` 25,000 to Salman. Then, Salman sought more money from Huda, but the latter did not encourage him. Then, Salman hatched a plan to rob Huda after killing him and visited Huda’s office several times.
During this period, he found other staff in the office and could not kill him. Salman, however, learnt that Huda was the first one to come to the office at 7 am everyday.
On July 3, around 7 am, Salman and Taj went Huda’s office and he asked her to wait outside. Huda after coming to the office switched on his computer and started watching a porn movie, police said.
Salman walked in demanded money, threatening to tell the staff about Huda watching porn in the office. But Huda ignored him and an angry Salman attacked him with a knife and slit his throat.
Then he snatched the keys of the office locker and stole `60,000 and some gold ornaments. Before leaving the spot, Salman found Huda was still breathing.
He called his wife and the duo strangulated him using her dupatta and escaped from the scene, the police explained.
The couple had left for Hyderabed after selling the booty and Huda’s brother Shah was questioned as part of the investigation and the police had found no clues during preliminary investigation.
