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Indian held over grisly murder of Dar businessman
MARY GWERA, 9th February 2009 @ 10:55
Daily News
MARY GWERA, 9th February 2009 @ 10:55
Daily News
Police in Dar es Salaam are holding five people including an Indian national, Vinoth Praveer (23), for allegedly killing a businessman, Abdulbasiti Abdallah (21), in the city last week. The Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander, Mr Suleiman Kova, said Praveer with his wife were arrested at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) over the weekend as they were about to leave for India aboard an Emirates flight.
Mr Kova said that parents of the late Abdallah had informed the police on the disappearance of the deceased from his residence on Friday morning. He said the suspect who was Abdullahs close friend went to pick the deceased from his home at Kipata Street in Kariakoo area at around 9:00 am. He was driving a Toyota Corolla with registration number T 546 AMH.
He said that the deceaseds parents were worried over their sons whereabouts after he failed to return home on Saturday. When the parents saw that it was getting late without seeing their son, they decided to call him. There was a communication breakdown but they later started to receive messages asking for money, Mr Kova explained.
In one of the messages, Mr Kova narrated, the parents were asked to send 100,000 US dollars or five kgs of gold to an address at the Sea Cliff Hotel or else their son would be killed. According to him, the parents informed the police on the matter. The police started investigations immediately and managed to arrest the suspect and his wife, Komal Katakia, at the airport waiting for departure.
The police had initially arrested him for purposes of getting information on the whereabouts of the deceased because we considered him as the deceaseds best friend, unknowingly that he allegedly took part in the murder, the zonal police chief added. As the police were going on with the investigations, they were later tipped-off on Sunday at around 2:00 pm that there was a vehicle with registration number T 546 AMH Toyota Corolla outside JM Mall (Harbour View Tower) at Samora Street in the city centre.
Informers told the police that something was stinking in the car. The police then rushed to the area where they found a big bag in the car and a small one at the back seat whose contents included a knife, rope and perfumes. The big bag contained a mutilated body of a human being suspected to be that of Abdallah. The deceaseds parents were called to the scene and identified their son.
Mr Kova said that the suspect probably lied on the kidnap plot to divert attention of the deceaseds relatives and police to get time to fly out of the country. According to preliminary investigations, it has been established that the suspect owes the deceased 22,000 US dollars. It was further established that the deceased wanted his money be paid in terms of dollars plus an interest rate of 9,000 US dollars.
Mr Kova told reporters that there is information that the deceased was considering reporting the matter to state organs due to the suspects reluctance to pay the debt. Mr Kova named other suspects as Abraham Akbar (23), Bupindra Jerah (61), Malti Bupindra (46) and Komal Katakia (22). Mr Kova said that the deceaseds body was preserved at the Mwananyamala Hospital for further investigations including DNA tests.
