‘Barbaric act in modern civilised society’: Death sentence to stepfather for murder of actor Laila Khan, 5 of her family

Earlier this month, additional sessions judge Sachin Pawar had convicted Tak of murder and destruction of evidence in the case. Calling the case ‘rarest of the rare,’ police last week sought the death penalty for Tak. The court decided the quantum of sentence on Friday.

In 2011, Khan, who had appeared in a few films, went missing, along with her mother Shelina Patel and four of her siblings. A complaint was filed at the Oshiwara police station by Laila’s father Nadir Patel, who informed the police that his entire family was missing. Apart from Laila, her mother Shelina, elder sister Azmina, twin siblings Zara and Imran and cousin Reshma, had gone missing.

A year later, the Mumbai police claimed to have recovered their bodies from a farmhouse and arrested Khan’s stepfather Tak for the murder. Tak was arrested in 2012 and has been behind bars since. Nearly 40 witnesses deposed in the case.

The prosecution was led by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam till the court reserved the case for judgment last month. Last month, Nikam withdrew from all cases to contest Lok Sabha elections for the BJP from Mumbai’s North Central constituency.

Police had claimed that Tak, the third husband of Laila Khan’s mother Shelina, first killed Shelina after an argument over a bungalow in Igatpuri, and then killed Khan, her siblings Amina, Zara, and Imran, and cousin Reshma as they had witnessed the crime. Police also said it was Tak who led the police to the remains of the deceased, which he had buried in a pit at the farmhouse.

The judge observed, “Undoubtedly, the offence proved against the accused is of high magnitude and enormity as it involves multiple murders… The murders are committed in an extremely grotesque and revolting manner. The five women victims were vulnerable and the accused took its disadvantage. The execution of the act indicates that these were cold blooded murders, after commission of which the accused cold heartedly and meticulously planned screening of evidence, which remained unnoticed for almost 17 months after commission of the offence.”

The court concluded that after committing the offence, the accused absconded to Jammu with two vehicles owned by the victims and abandoned them at Jammu and also gave false answers in his statement during the trial.

The judge, while observing that the accused deserved to be awarded the death penalty, went on to note, “the act of the accused is not only barbaric but also inhuman of the highest degree. The offence has certainly shocked the collective conscience of the society. Therefore, in my view, the case falls in the category of rarest of rare cases.”