A man accused in the murder of a 30-year-old businessman at Mir Alam Mandi in January was ardetained by the Central Crime Station (CCS) police on Tuesday.
Mohammed Imran Khan, the accused is said to be a close associate of an MLA from the Old City.
On January 21 night, Mohammed Ali, a poultry feed businessman, was stabbed and beaten to death near his shop by a group of thugs after he had an spat with them over playing cricket in front of his shop with stones.
11 persons, including prime accused Dawood Khan, in the case were arrested by the police. Initially,in the FIR, police had named Imran Khan, a private financier, as an accused and his name figured in the inquest report. Imran was also named as a key partner in crime by four of the 11 persons arrested in the case.
Though, Mir Chowk police later removed his name from the FIR stating that his cellphone was not located at the murder spot when the incident took place.
While alleging that the murder was a pre-planned attack, the relatives of the victim also pointed allegations against the Mir Chowk police saying that Imran’s name was removed from the FIR due to political pressure. Later, the case was transferred to the CCS recently.
“We have recorded the statements of three eyewitnesses, including the victim’s father, brother and an employee. All of them said that Imran was involved in the attack. The statements of the four main arrested accused also corroborate the same and hence we arrested Imran on Tuesday. He has been remanded in judicial custody,” CCS Inspector S Chakrapani said.