Mumbai: Almost two weeks after the arrest of a 36-year-old man from Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, for allegedly strangling a 23-year-old youth to death and disposing of the body near Kurla’s Mithi River, new information has surfaced. The accused, Nafees Khan, also known as Takqi, was revealed to have been involved in another murder in October.

It all started when Shivaji Nagar police of the Govandi were interrogating a suspect (Takqi) when he accidentally confessed to a murder that took place in October. The interrogation was part of the process of gathering evidence against Takqi and the two accused Mukesh Pal, 23, and Mohammad Shafiq, 25, who were arrested by the Crime Branch.

Auto-rickshaw renting business that led to death

Takqi’s business is to rent people auto-rickshaws and even lend them money. However, if someone fails to repay his money, he tends to take them to a house which he refers to as a ‘remand room’ to beat them up, the police said. In the case of Idrisi who is also known as Papa, Takqi and his then partners took him in where he was beaten up, which led to his death. To cover up the crime, they took Papa in an auto, towards Kamothe in Navi Mumbai, near Sion-Panvel Highway and dumped his body at a nullah. Later, when Idrisi’s family asked Takqi about the former’s disappearance, he helped the family with a “search”.

When statements were recorded from the people who knew Takqi, some confessed about how he raped the wives of the men who failed to repay the loan. However, these allegations are yet to be substantiated. One of them, Zahir Khan, 21, revealed how Takqi murdered Idrisi.

Police arrest all accused

Takqi was assisted by three accused Shakir Shaikh aka Justin, Imran Khan and Atiq Memon – who were all arrested by the police. Out of them, Takqi is already in judicial custody.

In the previous case, Takqi and the two accused, killed the victim Aman Abdul Shaikh as Takqi believed he had an illicit affair with his wife. Moreover, Aman had borrowed money from Takqi which he couldn’t repay. They strangled Aman and dumped it on the morning of January 5. After the incident, Takqi helped Aman’s family with the search and even helped them report a missing complaint to the police as a cover-up.