Body flown to Nagpur

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14: Cartoonist Irfan Hussain's body was flown to Nagpur on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by his brother Rizwan, his si...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14: Cartoonist Irfan Hussain8217;s body was flown to Nagpur on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by his brother Rizwan, his sister, mother and wife Muneera.

Earlier his embalmed body was received from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at 2.30 p.m. after a delay of two hours. While the embalming official had reached on time at 9.30 a.m. none of the assistants were available. Later a vehicle was sent by Irfan8217;s colleagues to pick the personnel from their quarters nearby.

According to his wife and relatives, Irfan had been told two months ago that he was on the hit-list of a political group. At an Iftar party hosted by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, he had reportedly met a photographer who told him that he was on the hit-list of a certain political group. Says the uncleof Irfan8217;s wife, Muneera, G.S.Haruni: 8220;Muneera told me this when I had come a month ago. She said that Irfan was casual about it.8221;

While his friends and relatives were puzzled about the encounter at the party, police said they were yet to be told about this incident by Muneera or their relatives. 8220;If they help us with information we can do our job better,8221; a top official said, adding that every angle will be looked into.

According to a friend, he had received threats from people claiming to be from the Shiv Sena soon after an issue of the magazine with Irfan8217;s caricature of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on its cover appeared. Outlook editor Vinod Mehta said he was not aware of any threats to Irfan following the publication of the Thackeray issue or that he was on anyone8217;s hit-list. 8220;The magazine was burnt in front of Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai but they were angry with the story and not so much with the cartoon. Thackeray has been caricatured so many times and another one could not have angered anyone,8221; he said. The Shiv Sena has already condemned the murder and described the calls attributed to the party as absurd.

Police are also looking at a possible revenge motive for the murder. Around one-and-a-half months ago, Irfan8217;s car was hit by a Ford Escort near Safdarjung flyover while he was returning home in the evening. The car had three youths who were drunk and were hurling abuses at him. He had chased them, pulled out the driver and beaten up one of the boys. He had handed over the youths to a Police Control Room van. The youths had threatened him, a colleague said. He had come to office the next day with a bandaged hand, said the colleague.

The police, however, say they have failed to find this particular case in their files.