Qateel killing 'laced' with mystery

Days after alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui was found murdered inside the anda cell of Pune’s Yerwada prison, the police suspect that the German Bakery blast accused might have been strangled to death by gangster Sharad Mohol by using the victim’s shoelaces.

The policemen, who visited the prison cell after the murder, found that laces of Siddiqui’s shoes were missing. The police suspect that Mohol may have burnt the string used to strangulate Qateel and flushed it down the toilet.

“The jail authorities  feigned ignorance about the string used to strangulate Qateel. However, when our team visited cell number 2 where Qateel was lodged, they noticed that the laces of Qateel’s shoes were missing,” officials from the Pune police told DNA.

Qateel wore a white colour sports shoes with no laces. “The police questioned the jail officials, but they said they did not know where the show laces were. We initially went by the first information report (FIR) lodged by jailor Chandrakiran Tayde. The FIR mentioned that Qateel was strangulated by using the string of a Barmuda but now we are probing whether shoe laces of Qateel were used for the purpose,” the officials said.

The police are now suspecting that shoe laces might have been used to kill Qateel as the autopsy report says a thin rope had been used to kill Qateel, the officials added.