Police used subterfuge to summon AIMIM corporator suspected of sheltering Nida Khan

Police in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar used the ruse of summoning a dozen corporators of various parties after receiving a tip-off that a local AIMIM corporator had given shelter to Nida Khan, an accused in the case of alleged sexual harassment and conversion at the TCS Nashik unit.

Police in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar used the ruse of summoning a dozen corporators of various parties after receiving a tip-off that a local AIMIM corporator had given shelter to Nida Khan, an accused in the case of alleged sexual harassment and conversion at the TCS Nashik unit. Khan (27) was arrested from Naregaon area of Sambhajinagar in Central Maharashtra on Thursday. She was untraceable ever since her name surfaced in the case more than three weeks ago, and a Nashik court had on May 2 rejected her pre-arrest bail application. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar police commissioner Pravin Pawar received specific information that Khan was in touch with local All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporator Matin Patel, said an official. Patel's mobile phone was put under surveillance, and soon a call from Khan's phone was detected, he said. But summoning Patel straightaway for questioning would have made him suspicious, and Khan might have fled. Commissioner Pawar then called all the candidates in the recent municipal elections whom police had provided protection, ostensibly for recording their statements about their present security requirements. Over a dozen elected corporators of various political parties including the Shiv Sena, AIMIM, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and others were summoned to the security branch office at the police headquarters. Each person was given a different time slot. Patel was called at 4 pm. When he arrived and his statement was being recorded, commissioner Pawar asked crime branch officers to apprehend him. He was taken to the crime branch office where the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) and other officials questioned him about Nida Khan's whereabouts. Taken by surprise, Patel initially denied any knowledge. But when Pawar himself confronted him, the corporator admitted that Khan's parents were staying in Naregaon area. But she herself had left the city on May 2, Patel claimed. After sustained interrogation, he finally told police that Nida Khan along with her family members was hiding in his flat in Kausar Park for the last couple of days. A joint team of Nashik and Sambhajinagar police then raided the flat and arrested Khan. Nashik police commissioner Sandeep Karnik also praised the Sambhajinagar Police for their active support. Patel has been named as an accused in the case for providing refuge to Khan, officials said.