Serving, Retd officers under scanner
Owners kept shifting locations to avoid suspicion
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 3: In yet another startling revelation in the Sainik Colony murder case, it has come to light that the physiotherapy centre, where the crime was committed, was being used for “unfair practices” for the past 15 months, with either the knowledge or the connivance of some serving and retired police officers.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
Three persons, including the key accused Sher Singh from Hissar, Haryana, who was posted in a defence establishment near Railway Station Jammu, and two others who ran the physiotherapy centre-Naveen Bakshi and Sukhwinder Pal-have been arrested so far, while several other suspects, including the victims, have been questioned by a Deputy Superintendent of Police-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch constituted to probe the matter.
A personal licensed weapon has also been seized from the accused, which is believed to be used in the crime.
Three police officers, including then SHO Channi Himmat Deepak Pathania, then Incharge Police Post Sainik Colony PSI Wasim Bhatti, and then IO in the case PSI Rohit Sharma, have been placed under suspension for alleged lapses in conducting a fair probe into the matter and passing off the incident as a road accident.
“The physiotherapy centre at Sainik Colony was being used for unfair practices for the past fifteen months, either with the knowledge or connivance of some serving and retired police officers, with its owners and operators continuously shifting locations to avoid suspicion,” sources said, adding that similar centres had earlier operated for extended periods in Shastri Nagar and other areas of the district.
According to sources, one of the operators-Naveen Bakshi-holds a physiotherapy degree from Karnataka and owns properties at two locations in Rajouri and Jammu’s Bakshi Nagar, while Sukhwinder Pal, who worked under him, is a resident of Raipur Satwari area.
The centre is reportedly owned by a merchant navy official Jasmeet Singh, son of retired police Sub-Inspector Joginder Singh, who is believed to be a close aide of a senior retired police officer.
Sources said the Crime Branch is also conducting a financial investigation to determine how such a substantial property worth crores was acquired by a serving merchant navy official in a posh locality.
“The agency suspect the physiotherapy centre could be a benami property,” they said.
Meanwhile, sources also revealed that some senior police officers are attempting to scuttle the investigation, as their involvement, or that of their relatives, has come to light in running the unfair practices.
They said some raids were recently conducted at the residences of relatives of these officers, but the matter was allegedly hushed up under their (senior police officers’) pressure.
Besides their or their relatives’ involvement in the unfair practices, some retired officers are also trying to stall the investigation, as agencies suspect they could be the actual owners of the land where the illicit activities were taking place for the past 15 months.
Pertinently, a woman from Mumbai’s West Malad area, Mehjabeen Akil Sheikh (30), her sister Fatima Akil (21), and an associate Jaspreet Kour (28), sustained injuries on August 21 after the accused Sher Singh attacked them with his licensed weapon inside a physiotherapy centre at Sainik Colony.
They were initially taken to JK Medicity, where the operators of the physiotherapy centre projected them as accident victims. Later, they were admitted to ASCOMS Batra and subsequently in GMC Jammu, where one of them, Mehjabeen Akil Sheikh, succumbed to her injuries on August 29, prompting senior police officers register an FIR on charges of murder and suspend three police officers for alleged lapses in the investigation.
The post Sainik Colony murder: Physiotherapy centre was being used for unfair practices for 15 months appeared first on Daily Excelsior.