Prime witness in hit-and-run case arrested

Within 24 hours of arresting the main accused in the Red Road hit-and-run case Taushif Sohrab alias Sambia, the police arrested the prime witness, 24-year-old Shahnawaz Khan alias Sanu, in Delhi late on Sunday.

A key witness to the January 13 hit-and-run incident on Red Road that claimed the life of Air Force officer Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud, Sanu was absconded after the incident, in which his close friend Sambia is the prime accused.

Khan was produced at court in Delhi on Monday, which remanded him to two days of transit remand. The Special Investigation Team of Kolkata Police apprehended Sanu from Delhi on late Sunday night.

The Delhi court handed over Sanu to sub-inspector Sumit Bhattacharya of Kolkata Police, his escort on the trip back to Kolkata.

Sanu will be extensively questioned and is likely to be made prime witness in the case, sources said.

Incidentally, Sanu’s brother and sister-law lodged a “missing person” complaint for him on January 15 when he did not return home since January 12 afternoon except making two calls, the second of which was to inform his brother about the accident.

Sanu went absconding after he was called for questioning on January 13 evening, when he told the police he was trailing Sambia’s Audi in another car, driven by mutual friend, Johnny, but they turned around after noticing the barricades.

Sambia, who was produced at a court in Kolkata on Sunday, has been remanded to police custody for 14 days. The younger son of former RJD MLA Mohammad Sohrab, he has been booked under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code for murder.