THANE: A 61-year-old Mumbra resident, who had executed the murder of a lookalike to escape jail for multiple crimes, was convicted by the district sessions court here on Thursday in the case and sentenced to life. He was earlier acquitted in the 2003 blasts case.District Judge H M Patwardhan convicted Sayeed Kadri for the murder of scrap dealer Wahab Bhangarwala alias Julfikar Umarkhan.“Uncle” as Kadri was known in jail had presumed that the only way to escape prison was to fake his own death to convince the legal machinery to close the cases against him and then shift base elsewhere.Accordingly, he identified Bhangarwala, who reportedly resembled him in height and built, and took him to his tenement at Ashiyana Cooperative Housing Society in Mira Road on August 15, 2003. When the two were in the tenement, he killed and beheaded Bhangarwala.“He poured an inflammable liquid on the body and burnt it. He then went to Bhayander creek where he flung the head and the weapons he had used. Kadri’s family members confirmed to the police that it was his body and accordingly he was declared dead,” Sanjay Londhe, district government pleader, told TOI.Later, Kadri changed his identity and worked with an ENT surgeon in Malegaon till he was picked by the police in 2010.The prosecutor told the court that the accused had committed a henious offence and deserved punishment. The prosecution examined as many as 17 witnesses, including half a dozen investigation officers, to prove the crime against Kadri.The court relied on the deposition of the prosecution witnesses and based on circumstantial evidence convicted and sentenced Kadri.

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