Key witness in ‘Rajan aide encounter’ goes missing

“Anil Bheda,a prime witness in the killing of Chhota Rajan’s aide Gupta,has been missing since Sunday morning. His wife Aruna has lodged a missing person’s complaint with us. Investigations are on to trace him and find out if he was kidnapped,” said Sanjay Surve,inspector in charge of Vashi Police Station.

Members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the case reached Vashi on Sunday.

According to the police,Aruna claimed that Anil left their Vashi house at 11.30am on Sunday in his car after telling her that he was going to meet a businessman.

When Aruna failed to reach Anil on his mobile phone after repeated attempts,she went in search of him and found his car on the highway near their house. Ram Prasad,advocate and brother of Ram Narayan Gupta,said,“Aruna called me and told me that Anil had received threat calls a few days ago. He was told that Rajan or D K Rao’s men would kill him if he deposed in the case.”

“On November 11,2006,Anil was shocked to know that my brother was killed in a police encounter. It is very unfortunate that such a key witness in the case has gone missing just days before the trial is likely to begin,” he added.