Lookout Notices Issued for Ex-MLA's Son After Dubai Escape

HYDERABAD: The Bureau of Immigration and Hyderabad police on Tuesday issued a lookout notice for Mohammed Raheel Aamir, alias Baba, the son of former BRS Bodhan MLA Shakeel Ahmed, after he fled from the Panjagutta traffic police station after being booked for rash driving and reportedly boarded a flight to Dubai.

After a day-long back and forth after Raheel crashed a car into security barricades at the Praja Bhavan at Begumpet, Panjagutta police on Tuesday registered cases of rash and negligent driving endangering human life and damaging public property.

They also arrested Raheel’s associate Abdul Asif for misguiding the police and giving false information and produced him before the court.

These developments came a day after a BMW car rammed police barricades near Praja Bhavan. Policemen at the spot at the time of the accident alleged that Raheel was at the wheel of the vehicle and was driving drunk. 

Police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy, after ascertaining the facts of the case, directed west zone DCP S.M. Vijay Kumar to conduct a thorough probe and file a report.

“We inquired with the immigration officials at RGIA, who confirmed that Raheel fled to Dubai. We have formed special teams to nab the accused who misled the police and harboured Raheel. No one will be spared. Abdul Asif has been arrested for misguiding the police. Other associates of Raheel will be arrested soon,” Vijay Kumar said.

The DCP said they will also look into a March 2022 incident, wherein a two-and-a-half-month-old toddler died upon being hit by an SUV, in which Raheel was present, at Road No. 45 of Jubilee Hills. 

A team of senior police officers have recorded the statements of a Home Guard, two constables and the inspector who were on the night shift at the police station and will be submitting the reports to the commissioner, police sources disclosed.

So far, no action has been taken against the police personnel posted on duty at the Punjagutta station on the night of Raheel’s accident, they said.

The DCP confirmed that Raheel was captured driving and getting down from the driver’s seat of the car in CCTV footage of the incident recorded in cameras near Praja Bhavan.

An inebriated Raheel, around 2.45 am on December 24, is alleged to have rammed his speeding BMW (TS013 ET 0777, registered in the name of one Abdul Khaleel) into the barricades at Praja Bhavan after losing control of the vehicle, the police said.

He was accompanied by two women, said the police who were at the spot. His associate Abdul Asif was driving alongside the vehicle in another car (AP29 BN 0027, registered on Rohini Hatcheries).

A cop, who was deployed near the security barricades at the time of the incident, said: “The driver (of the BMW) tried to apply reverse gear and leave, but couldn’t get the car moving. Otherwise, he would have escaped. We alerted the Punjagutta police as the driver was very aggressive and drunk. He and his six friends were taken to the police station.”

At the police station, Asif took responsibility for the incident. Despite this, going by the version of the personnel at the spot, the police insisted on putting Raheel through a breathalyser test.

By then, a mob of Raheel’s followers and friends had gathered at the police station, taking advantage of which Raheel escaped and fled in another car that was waiting for him at the Punjagutta crossroads.

The speeding car was spotted near Nagarjuna circle, with Raheel later found to have boarded a flight to Dubai from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the police said.

The police had on Monday booked Asif under the CrPC, Motor Vehicles Act, Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Destruction of Public Properties Act.

The police said they would file another FIR against Raheel and, possibly, four police personnel who were on duty at the police station when he escaped. “The commissioner will be taking a final decision based on the investigation reports,” a police officer said.  

Speaking about the March 2022 incident, the Hyderabad police said they would probe an fatal accident that occurred in March 2022, where an SUV in which Mohammed Raheel Aamir was travelling had run over an infant.

West zone DCP S.M. Vijay Kumar said that a two-and-a-half-month-old toddler had died in the accident at Road No. 45 of Jubilee Hills.

The DCP said: “Raheel was in an SUV that killed a toddler in Jubilee Hills. I have called for the case files and will also be probing into the case.”

In the incident, the SUV, with an ‘MLA’ sticker and darkened window glasses, had rammed a group of women who were selling balloons on the pavement at around 8 pm.

The police let Raheel go after the car driver, 19-year-old Mohammed Affan, took responsibility and surrendered at the police station.

“We will reinvestigate this case on top priority basis and check Raheel’s involvement in the accident,” Vijay Kumar said.

City police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy on Tuesday suspended Punjagutta inspector B. Durga Rao, on charges of falsely implication of another person, as the row over the accident involving BRS Bodhan former MLA  Shakeel Ahmed’s son Mohammed Raheel Aamir spread.

Durga Rao had accepted the version of Raheel’s associate Asif Ahmed and booked him for the accident near Praja Bhavan, a press release by the police chief said.

According to sources, police personnel had said Raheel was at the wheel of the accident vehicle, which was later backed by CCTV camera footage.