Brutally Killed, Buried For 17 Months: The Chilling Case Of Rajesh Khanna's Co-Star

Fifteen years after actor Laila Khan and five members of her family vanished without a trace, the case remains one of India's most chilling family murder mysteries, one that ended with six bodies buried beneath a farmhouse, a stepfather on death row, and an alleged accomplice who is still missing.

Actor Laila Khan, best known for starring opposite Rajesh Khanna in Wafa: A Deadly Love Story (2008), disappeared along with her mother Selina and four other family members in 2011, triggering an investigation that would eventually expose a meticulously planned mass murder.

Years later, former Mumbai Crime Branch officer Ambadas Pote, who led the investigation, revisited the case in a conversation with crime writer and journalist Hussain Zaidi, recounting how a missing persons complaint unravelled into one of the country's most gruesome homicide investigations.

Tensions Within The Family

According to Pote, Laila's mother, Selina, was married to Parvez Tak, her third husband, and the family lived together in Oshiwara.

Pote said Tak was unhappy with Laila's acting career and objected to her working in films. He also resented the way Laila treated him. Whenever he raised his concerns with Selina, she allegedly dismissed them.

Differences over family property and Tak's proposal that Laila move to Dubai for work further strained relations. After she rejected the idea, Pote said, Tak began plotting against the family.

The Farmhouse Trip That Became A Crime Scene

According to Pote, Tak arranged for one of his associates to work as a watchman at the family's farmhouse in Igatpuri before suggesting that the family spend a few days there.

When they failed to return, Selina's first husband, Nadir Shah, lodged a missing persons complaint.

Investigators later recovered Tak's Aadhaar card from the family's Mumbai residence, leading police to focus on him. He was eventually arrested in Kashmir during a joint operation by the Mumbai Police and the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

What Investigators Uncovered

Pote said Tak later confessed that the family had travelled to the farmhouse in a Mitsubishi car, spent the evening eating barbecue and dancing before retiring for the night.

Later, Tak and an associate attacked them with an iron rod and a knife.

Laila's brother Imran tried to defend the family despite being injured. Pote said Tak continued attacking each victim even after they had collapsed to ensure there were no survivors.

To mislead investigators, one of the family's vehicles was allegedly driven to Jammu and abandoned.

Buried Beneath A Swimming Pool

According to Pote, the bodies were buried inside a pit dug for a proposed swimming pool.

Three bodies were placed inside first and covered with mattresses and pillows. Three more were then laid over them before the pit was filled with soil.

When investigators reached the farmhouse, rain had caused the earth above the pit to sink slightly, raising suspicion.

Police spent more than six hours excavating the site.

Pote recalled repeatedly questioning Tak during the digging because officers initially struggled to believe his version. Eventually, human remains were recovered. Doctors confirmed they were skeletal remains before they were identified.

The Court's Verdict

After his arrest in 2012, then Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy told NDTV: "Parvez Tak is a shrewd, cunning and dangerous criminal. However much you run, you cannot hide. The law will catch up with you, and you will be brought to justice."

More than a decade later, in 2024, a Mumbai sessions court sentenced Tak to death.

Calling it a "rarest of rare" case, the court observed: "The case showcases a totally barbaric act that shocked the collective conscience of society... The execution of the act indicates that these were cold-blooded murders, after commission of which the accused cold-heartedly and meticulously planned screening of the evidence, which remained unnoticed for almost 17 months after commission of the offence."

Pote also revealed that the alleged associate who helped Tak carry out the murders has never been arrested.

Source: NDTV Trending