02-18-2007, 10:28 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Meenaz murder gets murkier
By: By Anand Holla
February 18, 2007
If the gruesome murder of Meenaz Khan (18) by her parents wasnât murky enough, the investigation and the trial in the case are turning stranger.
With cops declaring their prime witness hostile, and the judge transferring the case from his court through a confidential report, the case now seems as confusing as the disjointed 11 pieces of Meenazâs body.
On the night of July 1, 2006, Meenaz Khan (18), a resident of the Ambedkar Nagar Transit Camp in Cuffe Parade, went missing.
Her parents found her later in Panvel with her lover Vidyanand Jadhav, so they brought her back home. The next day, her body was found â hacked into 11 pieces, put in two gunny-bags and dumped under Bycullaâs JJ flyover. Cops arrested Meenazâs parents Munna Khan (38) and Shehnaz (35), alongwith Meenazâs younger sister Heena (16, name changed) for abetting her parents.
In their confession, parents told cops that they murdered Meenaz because she had fallen in love with a Hindu boy Vidyanand in their locality.Â
In February, the trial began at the Sewri fast-track court. But witness Mary Nadar testified that she had last seen Meenaz that night with her neighbour Insaan Yadav at around 11.30 pm. Fearing that this would hamper their case where the accused were actually Meenazâs parents, police declared the witness as hostile. The court objected to this.
Munnaâs lawyer Wahab Khan remarked, âInstead of the court verifying the veracity of the witness statements, the police themselves jumped the gun.â The day after she deposed, Nadar and her daughter were allegedly threatened by cops and illegally detained at the Cuffe Parade police station, only because they refused to say what the cops wanted them to.
To prove their point, cops registered a case against Munnaâs brother Dilshad Khan, alleging that Dilshad threatened Nadar to change her testimony in court.
Nadar totally denied this, but Senior Inspector Jaywant Shelar, Cuffe Parade police station says, âAllegations that we made a false case or we are putting pressure on them are baseless.
We informed the court to transfer the case as we werenât happy with the way this court was conducting the matter.â But cops havenât been able to trace the absconding Insaan Yadav.
Wahab Khan added that police had registered a false case against Dilshad and were also declaring Nadar hostile, fearing that their goof-ups would be caught. âBut when the fast-track court declined their request, they wanted the case to be transferred.
The court had to even remark on the mischief played by the police and said that it can even consider this as contempt.â The court has now passed a confidential order to the principal judge of Sewri Court, Abhay Thipsay, seeking the case to be transferred to another fast-track court.
Meenazâs body was not only chopped into pieces and washed before being dumped, but even her nose and cheeks were gouged out to make the body unrecognisable, said police.
The cops believe that Munna chopped Meenazâs body and head, even while Shehnaz and Heena held her hands and legs.Â
http://mid-day.com/news/city/2007/february/152070.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
By: By Anand Holla
February 18, 2007
If the gruesome murder of Meenaz Khan (18) by her parents wasnât murky enough, the investigation and the trial in the case are turning stranger.
With cops declaring their prime witness hostile, and the judge transferring the case from his court through a confidential report, the case now seems as confusing as the disjointed 11 pieces of Meenazâs body.
On the night of July 1, 2006, Meenaz Khan (18), a resident of the Ambedkar Nagar Transit Camp in Cuffe Parade, went missing.
Her parents found her later in Panvel with her lover Vidyanand Jadhav, so they brought her back home. The next day, her body was found â hacked into 11 pieces, put in two gunny-bags and dumped under Bycullaâs JJ flyover. Cops arrested Meenazâs parents Munna Khan (38) and Shehnaz (35), alongwith Meenazâs younger sister Heena (16, name changed) for abetting her parents.
In their confession, parents told cops that they murdered Meenaz because she had fallen in love with a Hindu boy Vidyanand in their locality.Â
In February, the trial began at the Sewri fast-track court. But witness Mary Nadar testified that she had last seen Meenaz that night with her neighbour Insaan Yadav at around 11.30 pm. Fearing that this would hamper their case where the accused were actually Meenazâs parents, police declared the witness as hostile. The court objected to this.
Munnaâs lawyer Wahab Khan remarked, âInstead of the court verifying the veracity of the witness statements, the police themselves jumped the gun.â The day after she deposed, Nadar and her daughter were allegedly threatened by cops and illegally detained at the Cuffe Parade police station, only because they refused to say what the cops wanted them to.
To prove their point, cops registered a case against Munnaâs brother Dilshad Khan, alleging that Dilshad threatened Nadar to change her testimony in court.
Nadar totally denied this, but Senior Inspector Jaywant Shelar, Cuffe Parade police station says, âAllegations that we made a false case or we are putting pressure on them are baseless.
We informed the court to transfer the case as we werenât happy with the way this court was conducting the matter.â But cops havenât been able to trace the absconding Insaan Yadav.
Wahab Khan added that police had registered a false case against Dilshad and were also declaring Nadar hostile, fearing that their goof-ups would be caught. âBut when the fast-track court declined their request, they wanted the case to be transferred.
The court had to even remark on the mischief played by the police and said that it can even consider this as contempt.â The court has now passed a confidential order to the principal judge of Sewri Court, Abhay Thipsay, seeking the case to be transferred to another fast-track court.
Meenazâs body was not only chopped into pieces and washed before being dumped, but even her nose and cheeks were gouged out to make the body unrecognisable, said police.
The cops believe that Munna chopped Meenazâs body and head, even while Shehnaz and Heena held her hands and legs.Â
http://mid-day.com/news/city/2007/february/152070.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->