KHARGONE: After a 12-day chase, police on Friday arrested the man accused of shooting and injuring Khargone SP Siddhartha Choudhary during the riots on Ram Navami. Suspect Waseem alias Mohsin was held in nearby Kasrawad town.
Nimar zone DIG Tilak Singh said his interrogation will reveal if he was acting alone or at somebody's behest. He refused to say how police traced him. "He was caught using our investigative tools. It would be inappropriate to divulge them," Singh said. Described by police as a gun-runner, 31-year-old Waseem has four prior cases, including illicit sale of arms. He once worked as a freelance photographer.
Police say he had a unique way of evading arrest. "Waseem and his brother use the same names - Waseem alias Mohsin. Whenever Waseem was caught, he would tell police that he was Mohsin. His brother would do the same. This time too, he tried the same trick but it didn't work," IPS officer Ankit Jaiswal said. Action will be taken against those who sheltered Waseem, the DIG said.
According to police, he was covering the sword-wielding Irfan, who scuffled with SP Choudhary and injured him in the thumb. When the SP chased him to stop him from attacking a crowd, Waseem allegedly shot him in the leg.
IPS officer Ankit Jaiswal said police got leads on Waseem and Irfan from the interrogation of four suspected rioters in Sanjay Nagar. "They said Waseem had a pistol and Irfan a sword when the SP was trying to handle the situation," he said. Police plan to seek Waseem's remand in court on Saturday.
