Mumbai, April 12: Inder Singh Kirti Singh (23), a peon at lawyer Shahid Azmi’s office and the sole eyewitness to his killing, has identified the three men who shot Azmi at his Kurla office in February.
Singh had said that the trio had waited for 15 minutes for Azmi outside his office before they were called in. They fired three shots at Azmi and fled. Supari killers, they were allegedly hired by gangster Bharat Nepali for Rs 1 lakh. Crime branch sources said the identification parade was conducted twice, on March 5 and March 25. On March 5, Singh identified Devendra Jagtap (28) and Pintu Dhagle (22) as the two people who had shot Azmi.
On March 25 he identified the third Hasmukh Solanki (32). “Jagtap and Dhagle had been arrested earlier along with a third person so their parade was conducted on March 5 whereas Solanki who was arrested a few days later,” an officer said, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to interact with the media directly.
Singh had said that after shooting Azmi one of the shooters had pointed a gun at his head and said, “Chal bhaag idhar se nahi toh tere ko bhi udaa denge (Run, otherwise we will kill you too).” Singh had fled and raised an alarm at his residence, which was in the adjacent building.
Additional Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti refused to comment on the parade. He, however, said that Singh has been provided security. “We do not have a witness security programme but we are doing whatever possible within our means to provide him security,” he said.
—–Agencies