Advocate Killed in Masab Tank Hit-and-Run Incident
Locals came to the advocate's rescue and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment
Hyderabad:High Court senior advocate Khaja Moizuddin, 63, an activist against grabbing of Wakf land, was murdered early on Saturday morning near his house in Shantinagar, mowed down by an black-coloured SUV that bore no registration plates. Moizuddin was flung to some distance, and died later at a hospital.
Moizuddin was about to enter his vehicle when the SUV swerved to the left and rammed into him, according to CCTV camera footage from the spot. The assailants took a U-turn and was seen heading towards Masab Tank. A suspected associate clad in a white kurta pyjama was seen reportedly signalling to the that their target was dead before driving away. Locals rushed Moizuddin to a hospital where succumbed to his injuries at 12.12 pm, police said.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Moizuddin’s son Khaja Farhan. also a High Court advocate, this was the sixth attack on his father. He accused Mahbub Alam Khan and Mujahid Alam Khan of the Mumtaz Yarvud Dawla Trust that runs some educational institutions of involvement in the murder.
Farhan said that his father had been fighting multiple legal cases against grabbing and privatising of Wakf Board properties, including Anwar-ul-Uloom Wakf, Bhoomtas Yarud Dowda Wakf in Malakpet, and other assets in Mallepally, land grabbers had allegedly taken hold of the assets into private trusts managed by their family members.
Moizuddin was reportedly contesting against endowed Wakf that consisted, among other properties, of three educational institutions — Asafia Primary and High School, Malakpet; Mumtaz Degree College, Malakpet; and Mumtaz College of Engineering & Technology, Malakpet; as well as Nawab Shah Alam Khan College.
Farhan alleged that his father had been attacked three years ago by Mujahid and Mahbub’s henchmen, while heading to a mosque to Fajr prayers near his house. “A few months back, Mujahid came to my house and to my office in Gunfoundry and threatened me stating “tumhare baba ko samjhao, cases withdraw kar lo ya Dubai chele jao varna anjaam bura hoga (withdraw the cases or move away to Dubai, else the consequences will be serious.”
“My father was a brave man,” Farhan said. “He didn’t succumb to their threats. Despite advocates insisting that we lodge a police complaint, my father did not do so saying he was fighting for justice,” Farhan said, breaking down. He said Moizuddin wanted to establish the forgery of papers and encroachments on Wakf property and ensure punishment for the accused.
Farhan said he had given the phone numbers of callers who had threatened Moizuddin to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. When my father was alive he told me that they twice threatened him to withdraw cases during Friday prayers at Alamgir Masjid near our house. For a few days, some persons were conducting a recce and monitoring our house,” Farhan said.
Expressing concern over his safety and that of his family, Farhan warned that if anything happened to them, Mujahid and Mahbub should be held accountable.
Describing the murder as a grave attack on the rule of law, Farhan expressed his faith in the police and judiciary, noted that he had support from senior lawyers, He to the state government to take a stern action against the accused.
AIMIM president Owaisi condemned the murder of advocate Moizuddin, saying he had known the victim. “We demand the police commissioner arrest the main mastermind and the assailants who killed brave Moizuddin and stand with his son Farhan and the family."
“Five special teams have been formed to investigate the murder,” Khairatabad DCP Rakshitha K. Murthy of the Khairatabad police said. “We are probing into all angles that include family and professional rivalry.” She said the police were tracking the killers using techiical evidence.
“There appear to be some property-related disputes connected to him. The investigation is at a preliminary stage. It would be premature to conclude the involvement of any particular individual or link the incident directly to a property dispute at this point,” DCP Murthy said.
A post-mortem report said Moizuddin had suffered grievous internal injuries, fractures to the hip, elbow, knees and shoulder bones.
