11 February,2020 10:02 PM IST | | Samiullah Khan, Diwakar Sharma
One of the owners of a tainted hukkah parlour, where the Palghar police carried out a raid and booked him under Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COPTA) eight days ago, has been arrested for allegedly conspiring to poison an employee working at a pizza shop next to the hukkah parlour in Vasai West.
The accused has been identified as Aftab Ashfaq Parikh, 36, who has been nabbed by Vasai police station on Monday.
The 25-year-old Dipesh Kadam, elder brother of victim Jitendra, told mid-day that his brother called him and narrated the story while struggling for his life. "My brother works as a chef at a pizza shop at Dattani shopping mall. As usual, he (Jitendra) had taken an auto-rickshaw at 10 pm from Parnaka stand to reach home. After the work, he was about to carry a rickshaw when one driver approached him and asked if he wants to board his vehicle to go home. There were already two passengers inside the auto. When my brother agreed to board his vehicle, one of the passengers got down and asked my brother to seat in the middle of the rear seat," said Dipesh.
"After a few minutes of the ride, both of them caught his hands and legs and forcefully poured liquid into his mouth before deboarding him after the incident," he added.
After getting off the vehicle at a secluded place, the victim called his brother and narrated the ordeal to him. "We immediately rushed to the spot and took him to a government hospital where the doctors have referred him to a private hospital. My brother was poisoned and he is admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU)," said Dipesh.
The investigating officer Sahebrao Kachare told mid day that the case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (conspiracy), 34 (common intention) has been registered.
"We have arrested the mastermind Aftab Ashfaq Parikh who had threatened Jitendra after we carried out raid at the Hukka Parlour 'The 3 Crowns - Sheesha Cafe around eight days ago when Parikh was booked under COPTA case. Parikh got agitated as the hukka parlour was shut down after the raid," said Kachare.
"He (Parikh) had been misunderstanding that Jitendra had passed the tip offs to us and the raid was conducted," he added.
"We are scanning the CCTV footage of the incident but the registration number of the vehicle is not legible. But the rest of the accused will be arrested soon," he added.
Parikh was produced before Vasai court that has granted him into police custody till February 12.
