Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested two active members of a gang run by jailed serial killer brothers Salim, Rustam, and Sohrab.
The accused, Salman a.k.a Aftab Malik of Khadra and Mohammed Arshad Siddiqui of Madeyganj, were arrested on a tip-off from an informer on Thursday. They were allegedly planning to loot a jeweller in the area.
The police have recovered two country-made pistols each of different bores, five live cartridges, two mobile phones, and a car from the accused.
Deputy SP, STF, D.K. Shahi said that they received a tip-off that two active members of the gang were planning to loot a jeweller and worked on the case. Subsequent investigation revealed that the accused were going towards the Scorpio Club, where the police laid a trap and nabbed them.
“The arrest of the accused also solved a case of murder of a girl named Mansi who was abducted from her house near Integral University in the area on September 4 and was murdered later by them,” said Shahi.
The accused Mohammed Arshad Siddiqui said his married brother had fallen in love with Mansi, a 20-year-old daughter of a farmer, who was forcing him to marry her. He claimed that the love story had disturbed the peace at his house.
He said that he and Salman stabbed her to death and later dumped her body in the Ghaghra river in Bahraich.
“They further confessed that they threw Mansi’s mobile phone and the knives in the Ghaghra river and their blood-stained dress in the Gomti river to hide their crime,” said the officer.
The arrest of the two accused is a major breakthrough for the STF.
The police are now investigating the involvement of the serial killer brothers in other crimes.
The serial killer brothers Salim, Rustam, and Sohrab had shot to infamy when they shot dead three persons in Hussainganj, Hasanganj and Madiaon in a span of just 45 minutes a day before Eid in 2005.
–IANS