And the news is.. Laila Khan's case is still a mystery
Parvez now claims Laila, her kin alive
MUMBAI: Giving a new twist to the mysterious disappearance and "death" of Bollywood starlet Laila Khan and her family, main suspect Parvez Iqbal Tak on Friday told Jammu and Kashmir police that all of them were alive. Tak on Thursday had said they had all been shot dead and their bodies buried in a forest around 120 km from Mumbai.
Laila, her mother Saleena Patel, sister Azmina Patel, twin siblings Zara and Imran and a relative Reshma Khan went missing from their Oshiwara flat in February 2011.
"He has been constantly changing his statements to Jammu police, so we cannot rely on him. Until we interrogate him, it will be difficult to even assume the family has been killed," Himanshu Roy, JCP (crime), said.
Tak was arrested by J&K police on June 21 this year from Kishtwar and is currently in their custody. The Mumbai crime branch team reached Jammu on Friday to take Tak into custody. "Jammu police are cooperating with us and tomorrow (Saturday), we will be moving the local court seeking his custody," said Niket Kaushik, additional commissioner of police.
The crime branch has detained Tak's partner and Laila's mother Saleena's second husband Asif Shaik. Shaik is believed to have told police that he divorced Saleena five years ago and was unaware of the family's whereabouts.
But Himanshu Roy feigned ignorance about Shaik and said he was not in their custody. "I don't know where Shaik is," he said.
Tak, who is facing two cases of cheating in J&K, had confessed to police on Thursday that Laila and her family were shot dead by hired killers. But before his confession, Tak, who allegedly is Saleena's third husband, had been maintaining that the family was safe in Dubai.
Laila's father Nadir Patel, who filed the first missing person's complaint with Oshiwara police, told police that Laila was his second born child with Saleena, whom he married on April 7, 1979, in Mumbai. During her marriage, Saleena went by the name Atiya Khan, he told police. Patel currently stays with his second wife Shaista and two daughters at Mira Road.
"Six months ago, I heard a car registered in Atiya's name was found parked in Jammu. I tried searching for Atiya and my daughters but in vain. So, I approached the police and lodged a complaint. I came to know that Atiya and my daughters were last seen with Tak on February 8, 2011. I suspect that Tak had abducted my daughters for property," he told the crime branch.
Mobile phone records of Laila, whose original name is Reshma Patel, showed her last location as Nashik. Laila has a bungalow at Igatpuri in Nashik district.