Airman death: Missing accused arrested in Delhi

Shahnawaz Khan, better known as Shanu, one of the two absconding friends of the main culprit in the Red Road hit-and-run case, Sambia Soharab, was arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) of the Kolkata police from his relative’s residence in New Delhi in the early hours of Monday.

His arrest, which came within a day after Sambia’s arrest, takes the total number of accused held in the case to two.

In the morning, Shanu (24) was produced before chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Pooran Chand at Tis Hazari Court who granted his two days’ transit remand for his production before the CMM of the Bankshall Court in Kolkata. A police team boarded a flight with him at around 8.30 pm from New Delhi and arrived at the city late at night.

Shanu will be produced at Bankshall Court on Tuesday when the SIT will seek his remand for further interrogation. Shanu’s elder brother, Khalid Khan, however claimed that Shanu had surrendered to the police like the way Sambia did.

Sources revealed Shanu spoke to his family members on Sunday morning from the residence of his maternal uncle Mohammed Yusuf at Ajmeri Gate in Central Delhi where he was hiding.

According to Khalid, he accompanied a two-member police team which flew to Delhi in an Air India flight from the Kolkata Airport at around 8.15 pm. Later, Shanu surrendered when the police team reached Mr Yusuf’s residence, Khalid added. Sources indicated Shanu claimed during the hearing at the Tis Hazari Court that he had surrendered to the police.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Debashish Boral, however, ruled out the claim of Shanu’s surrender though he admitted Khalid was taken alongwith the police team to identify the accused. “With the support of a Delhi police team, we caught Shanu from Mr Yusuf’s residence at around 3 am,” he said.

Without explaining Shanu’s role in IAF corporal Abhimanyu Gaud’s death during the Republic Day parade rehearsal early on January 13, Mr Boral added, “We will be able to comment on Shanu’s link in the case after interrogating him.” Khalid earlier even claimed that Shanu was innocent and could be implicated in the case falsely.

Investigators, however, question why Shanu went into hiding if he was innocent and travelled in another car.

Meanwhile the investigators are now looking for Johny, another absconding friend of Sambia, after his family told them in the morning that he also wanted to surrender.