more-in Mumbai: The lawyer of Riyazul Haq, the cook who was granted bail on Saturday, has claimed that he is being framed as he is blocking the sale of his employers’ ancestral property. Mr. Haq (33), who had been working for Colaba resident Zinnia Khajotia for the last 12 years, was accused of poisoning by Ms. Khajotia and her daughter in an FIR filed against him on August 31. He was arrested and remanded in police custody till September 10, and later sent to judicial custody. His lawyer, Sunil Pandey, applied for bail when his custody expired on Saturday. Mr. Pandey said the sessions court granted bail to Mr. Haq on a personal bond of ?15,000, and that Mr. Haq will be released. In the bail hearing, Mr. Pandey argued that Mr. Haq had been kept in custody over shoddy evidence that could not amount to anything that would implicate his client in any way. “Judge M.S. Azmi granted bail saying Mr. Haq being kept in remand and languishing in prison would not help the investigation if there has been no conclusive evidence even after granting an extension to the earlier police custody. With the entire investigation being technical in nature, the judge said the future of the investigation is not bright, firstly due a delay of 24 days of filing an FIR and then turning a prima facie civil dispute into a criminal liability,” Mr. Pandey said. The police, while sticking to their stand of looking at Mr. Haq as the prime suspect, have also been unable to state a motive for his alleged crime. The police have examined his bank accounts, in which they found records of transactions amounting to around ?1 lakh. However, by the police’s own admission, even these records do not implicate Mr. Haq. “We did find a few cash transactions, but they all were from Mr. Haq selling off his personal property. We tried ascertaining a motive in his interrogation, but he did not comply. We are investigating the matter,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Abhishek Trimukhe said. Mr. Pandey, meanwhile, said Ms. Khajotia’s father had named Mr. Haq, and Ms. Khajotia’s children as the beneficiaries of some property that he owned in Cuffe Parade. “As per the will, the children could not sell the property unless Mr. Haq gets his fair share, which Ms. Khajotia’s daughter Tahmineh, who is the only one staying in India, is not willing to give. She tried to convince Mr. Haq to give up his share, and he refused, following which he had not been paid his salary for the last two years. We suspect that this attempt to implicate my client stems from this dispute,” Mr. Pandey said.

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