In a ghastly murder, a refugee Sufi cleric from Afghanistan was shot dead by four unidentified persons at Yeola town in Nashik district of north Maharashtra.
In a development that caught the local police napping, four armed assailants cornered Khwaja Sayyed Chishti (35), a refugee cleric who had moved to India from Afghanistan four years ago and was living legally, at in an open MIDC industrial plot at Yeola and pumped bullets into him. Chisti, who sustained severe bullet wounds in the head and neck, died instantly.
Known locally as ‘Sufibaba’, Chisti used to preach in several religious gatherings or mausoleums. After gunning down Chisti, the four assailants fled in a SUV parked nearby. The SUV was reportedly owned by the Chishti.
Talking to media persons, Nashik Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sachin Patil said: “We have set up a special team to investigate the murder of Chisti. We are on the lookout for the four assailants”.
An Afghani national, Chishti had arrived in India from Pakistan four years ago. He had obtained refugee status and lived with a woman, who is believed to be an Afghan national, at Vavi in Sinnar taluka of Nashik district. “Chisti was an Afghanistan passport holder,” Patil said.
“After moving to India, Chisti lived in Delhi for a while. Later he moved to Karnataka. He had moved to Nashik some time back. He is a bona fide person. He had taken necessary permission from the Centre to stay in the country,” Patil said.
The preliminary investigations have revealed that Chisti had – along with four of his aides --come to Yeola from Yavi for a`Bhoomipujan’ along with three of his followers on Tuesday afternoon. He presided over some religious rituals there. He was shot dead from point blank range late on Tuesday evening, when he was about to leave Chincholi MIDC area in his SUVfor Vavi.Though the motive behind the murder has not been established yet, the police suspect that Chisti might have been eliminated over a property-related dispute.