Rahul pays cops a visit,asks about a murder case

The victim’s family had approached him and accused the police of protecting the influential culprits and apprehending the innocent.

“We had seen his cavalcade about 10 minutes ago,but we never expected him to pay us a visit,” said Inspector VM Premi of the Musafirkhana. “I explained to him that there was evidence against those arrested and the charges levelled by the victim’s family against others were baseless.”

Circle Officer,Musafirkhana,Durgesh Pratap Singh,said: “I assured Rahul Gandhi that we will conduct a fresh inquiry into the case. We are still waiting for a complaint from the victim’s family.”

The victim was Yasmeen Bano,a widow and mother of four,who resided in Nehalgarh town of Musafirkhana.

On June 29,Yasmeen’s sister Asiya,a polio patient who had been living with her,had left for their parents’ home in Mohanganj,Rae Bareli. On July 2,she came to know that Yasmeen had been missing for the last 24 hours.

“I went and searched for her,” she said. “I also met a local journalist for help and he told me that my sister had eloped with someone. No complaint had been filed with the police.”

On July 4,the police recovered a decomposed body near a pond in Musafirkhana. Asiya and the family identified the body as Yasmeen’s from the clothes and jewellery. Her cellphone was missing.

A murder case was lodged against unidentified persons. Postmortem found that she had died due to strangulation.

“During investigation,we scrutinised the call details of Yasmeen’s cellphone and came to know that she last spoke to her neighbour Naseeb Ali,” said Inspector Premi. “We picked him for questioning and he confessed to the murder. He admitted that two other locals,Shakeel and Pappu,helped him.”

Asiya suspected that Siraj (70),the brother-in-law of Yasmeen,his brother Miraj,son Sarfarz and BDC member Siraj,a local journalist,had committed the murder over a land dispute. They had issued life threats to Yasmeen and were roaming free because of their influence on the local police.

When she came to know that Rahul Gandhi was visiting Gauriganj to launch 3G services,Asiya and her family members — including her brother Jaseem and elder sister Sameem — decided to ask him for justice. They met Rahul when he was about to leave after the function.

Rahul took them to his guesthouse in Munshiganj and assured them that he would go to the police station in the evening. He asked them to stay at the guesthouse while he went touring.

In the evening,Asiya and the others were taken to police station.

“Siraj,a cancer patient,stays in front of my sister’s house,” said Asiya. “They had developed an enmity when he came to know she was purchasing a plot of land in the village. Yasmeen had gone to him for advice on the matter. But Siraj played foul and purchased that land. When my sister went to complain,he misbehaved with her.”

Rahul meets Governor
The AICC general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi met Governor B L Joshi on Friday. He reached Raj Bhavan in the afternoon after his three-day visit to his constituency. The meeting lasted for about 30 minutes. This was Rahul’s first meeting with the Governor since Joshi took over in July 2009. Congress sources said it was a courtesy call.