One of the deceased was identified as 65-year-old Mohammed Khaja Rayeesuddin from Hyderabad's Masab Tank. The other was an Afghan.
Published Oct 04, 2023 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 04, 2023 | 4:50 PM
65-year-old Khaja Raisoddin Mohammed. (Supplied)
Two days after the West Yorkshire police arrested two men for the Leeds double murder where the victims included a man from Hyderabad, the cops have charged one while letting go of the other suspect.
The police have charged Robert Jean (46), said to be a Ugandan national, for the murders of Abdullah Mirzada (53) from Afghanistan and Mohammed Khaja Rayeesuddin (65) from India’s Hyderabad.
Jean is being produced at the Leeds Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 4 October.
The cops said all three lived at the Hill Top Mount in UK’s Leeds city, where the incident took place.
“The two victims were found fatally wounded after the police were called to Back Hill Top Avenue, Harehills, shortly after 11 am on Saturday, 30 September,” the West Yorkshire police said on Tuesday.
Raisoddin — a native of Hyderabad’s Masab Tank — died after he reportedly tried to intervene in a fight between the Afghan and two others.
A third male was located with a serious injury to his hand, the West Yorkshire police said.
53-year-old Abdullah Mirzada. (Supplied)
The cops arrested Jean and a 47-year-old — without revealing identities — on the suspicion of murder. The second person has now been released without any charge.
Jean, who sustained injuries as well, was taken to a hospital for treatment, said the cops.
Raisoddin, who had been reportedly residing in London since 2011, was unfortunately murdered just as he was preparing to return to India for his daughter’s marriage, which was scheduled on 5 October. He is survived by a wife, daughter, and son.
The West Yorkshire police, which found Raisoddin with critical injuries, rushed him to the hospital. “But he was pronounced dead a short time later,” said the police.
“The cops have cordoned off the incident area that is close to the place where Raisoddin was staying. The police are in regular touch with his immediate family and relatives,” Raisoddin’s neighbour Mohammed Furqan, a Pakistan national, told South First over the phone.
The victim’s family members have reportedly requested the Hyderabadi Association in London to perform his last rites in the UK.
“A few members of the community — Purkhan and Akheel — have taken his burial responsibilities to be held here and repatriation of his belongings to the family. It will take at least a week or so as the investigation is ongoing. So far, the family does not have any plans to fly down here for the burial,” Mujeeb Mohammed, President of the Hyderabadi Association in London, told South First.
The police said Raisoddin’s family described him as “a man of good character”.
“He liked to pray and go to the mosque. He never got into trouble, so we cannot understand why this happened. We cannot console ourselves; we are unsettled,” the family told the police.
Meanwhile, Muslim political party Majlis Bachao Tehreek’s (MBT) spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan has requested Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as well as the High Commission of India in London to help Raisoddin’s family.
The cops have launched further investigation into the double murder, while staying tight-lipped regarding details pertaining to the case.
65-year-old Mohammed Khaja Rayeesuddin. (Supplied)
Detective Chief Superintendent Sarah Jones said on 1 October, “Clearly, it is an absolute tragedy for two men to have lost their lives like this in such a sudden and violent way, and we will be doing everything we can to establish the full circumstances and see that those responsible are brought to justice.”
Noting that the investigation was still in its very early stages, she appealed to eyewitnesses to come forward.
“We are keen to hear from anyone who witnessed any part of this incident or who has any information that could assist our enquiries,” said Jones, who is also the Senior Investigating Officer in the case.
Detectives from the West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Crimes’ enquiry team are leading the investigation.
A specialist family liaison officers are supporting the victims’ families, the police said.
At least four persons of Indian origin (PIO) from the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been killed this year.
On 13 June, London’s Metropolitan Police arrested a Brazilian national in connection with the murder of 27-year-old Kontham Tejaswini Reddy from Telangana.
A resident of Turkayamjal in the Abdullapurmet mandal of the Rangareddy district, the postgraduate student was stabbed to death by Keven Antonio Lourenco
De Morais. Her friend Akhila (28) — said to be from Alair in the Yadadri Bhuvangiri district — was also injured during the incident.
On 6 May, 27-year-old engineer Aishwarya Thatikonda from Saroornagar in Hyderabad was among nine people killed, including the gunman Mauricio Garcia (33), in a mass shooting in Texas in the US when the accused opened fire outside a crowded mall.
The last rites of Thatikonda, a project engineer and daughter of Narsi Reddy, then serving as a judge in a court in the Rangareddy district, took place on 11 May at the cremation grounds in the Nagole area of the city.
Jaahnvi Kandula, a 23-year-old from Andhra Pradesh pursuing her master’s in the US’s Seattle, was killed after being run over by a speeding police patrol cruiser while she was crossing the road, on 23 January this year.
The incident courted controversy in early September after a Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer, Daniel Auderer was heard laughing over her death and downplaying it.
Auderer was also heard saying that Jaahnvi had “limited value” and that a cheque of $11,000 would be adequate compensation for her death.
