Before Shariful Islam Shehzad was arrested by the Mumbai police in the Saif Ali Khan attack case from Maharashtra’s Thane, another suspect named Akash Kanojia was detained.
The Railway police, after receiving a lead from the Mumbai police, detained him at Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) detained a 31-year-old on January 18 from the Jnaneshwari Express at Durg station in Chhattisgarh.
He was released after Shariful Islam Shehzad, the accused, who is an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, was arrested.
However, what happened in the brief period for Akash Kanojia is no less than a nightmare that led to grave consequences for Kanojiya.
Little did he know that he would pay the price for a crime he was not even connected to.
“My family was left shocked and in tears, after the media started showing my pictures and claimed I was the main suspect in the case. One mistake of the Mumbai police ruined my life. They failed to notice I had a moustache, and the person in the CCTV grab from Saif Ali Khan’s building did not,” A grieving Kanojia said, according to the Hindu.
“After the incident, I got a call from the police who asked me where I was. The call was disconnected after I told them I was at home. I was travelling to meet my prospective bride when I was detained at Durg and then taken to Raipur.”
Mr Kanojia said it was divine intervention that Shariful was caught within hours of his detention at Durg railway station.
“Or else, who knows, I may have been shown as the accused in the case. I now want justice,” he added.
Kanojiya, who worked as a driver, said, “After being released when I called my employer, he asked me not to report to work. He refused to listen to my explanation. My grandmother then told me the family of my prospective bride had refused to go ahead with marriage talks following my detention,” he said.
Akash Kanojiya who has two cases to his name. One is a case related to the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. And the other is under section 393, which deals with attempting to commit robbery.
Kanojiya claims the NDPS case has not yet been proven. In the second case, his friend had committed a chain-snatching crime, and he was seen in close proximity to the accused at the time of the crime. As a result, the police thought that Kanojiya was also involved in the crime.
Some reports claim that Kanojiya has planned to stand outside Saif Ali Khan’s residence and seek a job.
Akash Kanojiya now seeks the removal of all his photographs on the internet and news websites where he is cited as a suspect in the Saif Ali Khan case and a job for his livelihood.
Notably, the police had clearly stated that the person detained was a suspect and not an accused.
Meanwhile, According to India Today, Mumbai police are probing a second suspect in the Saif Ali Khan case.
And amid reports that Shariful’s fingerprint did not match that collected at Saif Ali Khan’s home, the Mumbai police said: “The fingerprint department has yet to submit their report to the Bandra police. We’ll wait for the report before commenting further.”
Police also said claims of a fingerprint mismatch were premature, saying that an “absolutely genuine detection of all the evidence” was in process.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, speaking to the media today, said that the probe is in its last stage and that the commissioner of police will soon brief the media in detail regarding the update of the case.
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