Central crime station sleuths said that Mohammed Pahelwan, the prime suspect behind Saturday’s attack on the MIM MLA, Mr Akbaruddin Owaisi, has confessed that he had planned to eliminate Mr Owaisi as he felt cornered from all sides by the MLA.
Interestingly, Pahelwan has not been named in the FIR though the police said that he had been identified as the key conspirator and will be brought into the case as the investigation progressed. The police also confirmed that the 55-year-old Pahelwan was not present at the spot when the incident took place.
“Pahelwan said that he felt harassed and humiliated and he had decided to eliminate Akbaruddin after the MLA bought the Collector to his lands. The accused thought that it was a do or die situation for him and had been planning the attack for the last 10 days.
On Saturday, when the MLA toured the area and passed before Pahelwan’s house, it further provoked them and they attacked after an hour. They executed the attack to see that by all means they killed the target,” said an investigation official.
The police said at least nine persons took part in the attack of whom three were now in custody.
Three bullets hit Mr Owaisi. One of them was a minor flesh injury while the other two entered his body. One of the bullets burst into pellets inside the body, the police said.
Investigators are also questioning accused Hassan Bin Omer Yafai, who attacked with a knife and Mohammed Bin Saleh Wahlan who shot Mr Owaisi.
While one of the attackers, Ibrahim, died, two other accused, Abdullah Bin Younus Yafai and Awad Bin Younus Yafai, are being treated at the Yasodha Hospital.