Cops, Rubina differ on "missing" date

During the examination-in-chief conducted by Mumbai police counsel Shrikant Bhat, PSI Bandu Bhau Bhosale said the complaint was lodged at around 12.00 noon on August 28. He added that when he asked Rubina why the complaint was not lodged the day Sayama went missing, Rubina replied that she thought that her brother had gone to his friends" or relatives" place. He said Rubina gave her name as Rubina Banu and gave her brother’s name as Javed Abid Ali Shaikh, aged 18 years.

Bhosale stated thathe then enquired with Rubina whether she had Sayama’s photograph, to which she replied that it was at home and that she would bring it. However, she did not turn up, he added.

The complaint entry No 34, dated August 28, 1997, recorded at 12.25 pm in stationary diary No 21/97, was produced before the court and was marked as an exhibit.

Bhosale deposed that on September 2, 1997, he learnt that one Javed Fawda was killed in a police encounter. Since the missing person’s name Javed Abid Ali Shaikh, he asked a constable to make enquiries at Rubina Banu’s house to ascertain whether the person who was killed in the encounter was the same as the missing person.

The constable reported to him that when he went to the house, there was a crowd gathered there, which prevented him from making enquiries, he stated. He later learnt from constable Kadam that Javed Fawda’s funeral procession was taking place. About three days later, he sent another constable to Rubina’s house, but nobody was there.

Bhosale personallyvisited Rubina’s house on September 10, he stated, and after making inquiries with her, found that the missing person was the same Javed Fawda who was killed in the encounter. After that, he made an entry in the station diary that the missing person and Javed Fawda is the same person.