Police hint at underworld hand

On Thursday,three unidentified men had entered Azmi’s Kurla office on the pretext of meeting him and fired four rounds at him.

The police have prepared sketches of two suspects on the basis of descriptions provided by Azmi’s peon . They have also recovered two sets of fingerprints from the office.

“The manner in which the murder was carried out indicates a professional hand. The weapons used were pistols and not country-made revolvers. They also held a pistol to the forehead of the peon who started shouting after Azmi was shot,and let him live. In underworld hits,the assailant usually kills only the chosen target,” said a senior police officer who did not wish to be named.

Incidentally,on July 22 last year,Azmi had filed a complaint with the police claiming he had been injured in what he said was a deliberate accident.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that before the attack took place,the assailants had visited Azmi’s office only to be told by his peon that he was yet to arrive. According to Kurla police,the men had kept a watch on the office before they carried out the murder.

A call made on the cell phone of Azmi’s assistant at 7.20 pm,asking for him,is also suspected to be a pretext to ascertain whether Azmi was in office. “The peon claims that around 7 or 7.10 pm,he left the office and was on his way to fill water from Azmi’s house,located on the other side of the lane,when the three men met him and asked him in Hindi where Azmi’s office was. The peon told them that Azmi was yet to arrive and the men asked him to call his boss. After he refused,they had gone away. The peon told Azmi about the men,when the latter asked him to see whether they were still around. The peon had found the men outside and brought them in,” an officer said.

The statement given by peon Indersingh Kirtisingh said all the three were slightly built. “The entire incident happened between 7.30 and 7.40 pm when I escorted the three men into my boss’ cabin. Suddenly,two of them whipped out pistols. A long-haired man pointed the pistol at my head and ordered me to flee if I feared for my life. And when I was rushing out,I heard the gunshots.” .

The men ran in the direction of the Mithi River but the statement did not mention whether they fled in a vehicle.

The police,meanwhile,have provided protection to Ejaz Naqvi,the lawyer of 26/11 co-accused Sabahuddin Ahmed.