Kin of brothers arrested in Aurangabad arms case, says contrary to ATS claims, they had been living in Burhanpur and Delhi openly
Aijaz Khan with his wife and kids
The family of Iliaz and Aijaz Khan, brothers arrested in the Aurangabad arms haul case, has claimed that contrary to the claims of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the accused were never absconding and had been living in plain sight all these years. The Maharashtra ATS recently arrested Iliaz Akram Shaikh and Aijaz Akram Shaikh from Burhanpur and Delhi respectively.
Afzal Khan, the brother of the accused said, "Aijaz was living in Burhanpur (MP) since 2007. He got married, divorced and married again. He has two children whose names are registered with Burhanpur municipality. Aijaz also runs a dairy in partnership at Burhanpur. In fact, he got into an assault matter and the case went to the local court."
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Afzal said Iliaz has been living in Delhi since 2008. He is pursuing PhD from a Bihar university. In fact, recently he also began teaching in a private college in Noida. According to Afzal he has all relevant documents including the nikahnama of Aijaz, birth certificates of his children, his bank passbook and documents of some agricultural land which was transferred from their father's name to his (Aijaz's) name. (mid-day is in possession of all these documents).
He further added, "How come ATS couldn't trace them though their presence was registered at government and private bodies including Burhanpur municipality?" The ATS case is that both accused had links to the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul and were absconding since it was registered. ATS has claimed that they were looking for both the accused for the past 13 years and were unable to find them.
The ATS booked the brothers under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and they were produced in a Mumbai court on Saturday. mid-day contacted Maharashtra ATS chief Deven Bharti about the claims made by Afzal, but there was no response till the time of going to the press.
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