Cross-dresser helps police solve murder mystery

A two-month-old murder of an unidentified man, which had intrigued the City police, is said to have been solved. In the process, the murder mystery has blown the lid off an alleged robbery racket being run by the victim with the help of a cross-dresser.

Kamaal Shafi, the victim, was found with stab wounds in Sanjaynagar on October 7. He died of injuries at the Victoria Hospital the next day. His identity was established only later.
Investigation led police to Azam Pasha, a close associate of Shafi. A senior police officer, who led the probe, said the interrogation of Pasha provided a breakthrough.

Pasha reportedly cross-dressed and posed as a streetwalker to “lure” men, police sources said. Shafi would accompany him. Whenever any man approached Pasha, Shafi would catch him unawares, assaulting and robbing him. On the night of October 6, Pasha dressed as a woman and walked along a railway track, allegedly to lure his victims, sources added.

At that moment, a group of four men stopped by. As one of them, now identified as Suresh, 23, went near Pasha, Shafi emerged all of a sudden, threatening him with a knife to part with the valuables.  Seeing things turn so dramatically, Suresh’s three friends — now identified as Yogesh, 23, Harish, 21, and Manu, 20 — rushed to his rescue.

They turned the tables on Shafi, snatching his knife and stabbing him in turn. The four men then ran away.

Police have now arrested all the four suspects. Police said Suresh had been convicted of a robbery and was imprisoned before being released from jail.