The discovery of two voodoo dolls in November last year in a graveyard where Amirshad Khan had buried his son Zahidshad allegedly proved to be the final straw in his rivalry with Abdullah Khan (56), leading to the latter’s murder a month later. On Monday, Vakola police station arrested Amirshad (55), who was on the run for about two months. The duo, who lived in Kalina, had fallen out while working at a construction site. Advertising “The builder had appointed Amirshad as the chief promoter of the site in 2006 and also tasked him with ensuring that residents vacated their homes to make way for the towers. Abdullah was a secretary in the society but had been sidelined because he had filed RTI applications and found a number of irregularities, both by the builder and Amirshad,” said an officer at Vakola police station. Abdullah’s luck changed when the construction firm’s CEO died in 2017. “Abdullah met the CEO’s father, who was overseeing the project, and apprised him of the alleged irregularities at the site. This led to Amirshad being sacked in 2017 and Abdullah being given the responsibilities,” added the officer. Soon, the police said, a furious Amirshad attacked Abdullah with a knife in the latter’s home. Abdullah, it is believed, did not report the attack to the police. Even as Amirshad swore to exact revenge, Abdullah himself lost his job at the site a few months later. “Both men blamed each other for getting fired,” the officer added. In November, when Amirshad’s son Zahidshad (30), died of what the police later found was drug overdose, the grieving father suspected Abdullah. “He had been told by local people in Kalina that Abdullah practised black magic,” police said. The police said after burying the youth in a graveyard at Air India Colony, Santacruz, Amirshad returned 10 days later to offer prayers when he claimed that he found two voodoo dolls pierced with needles near his son’s grave. “He was then convinced that Abdullah was responsible for the death,” said the officer. On December 21, while Abdullah was riding home after offering afternoon prayers at a mosque, five men accosted him on a busy road, threw chilli powder at his eyes, hit him on the head with a stone and stabbed him with a knife. He died later that day. Within a week, the police caught four of the attacker. Advertising Amirshad is related to late Haseena Parkar, the sister of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. “The daughter of the accused was married to Haseena Parkar’s son. But after her husband died, she remarried and moved out of Mumbai with her child,” the officer said. Kailas Adhav, senior inspector, Vakola police station, said Amirshad was produced in court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody till February 11.

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