Mumbai: Ex-trustee who sold grave of Yakub Memon arrested

MUMBAI: The L T Marg police on Friday night arrested Parvez Sarkare, an ex-trustee of Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust, for allegedly selling four graves including the one in which Yaqub Memon is buried, for Rs 5 lakh. Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast cases, was hanged to death in 2015 at a jail in Nagpur.
TOI, in its edition dated September 12, reported about the FIR.Memon, a chartered accountant, younger brother of Tiger Memon, was buried in one of these four graves at Marine Lines bada Qabrastan. The graves are referred to as otthas.
Sarkare (54), who resides at Bhendi Bazaar, was arrested from Kurla. “He has been sent to police custody for three days,” said a police officer. The Qabrastan properties are registered with the Waqf Board and cannot be sold or purchased. An officebearer of the trust had told TOI that otthas are not sold, but given to families, who pay for maintenance. The average annual fee to maintain an otthais around Rs 4,000.
Memon’s cousin, Mohammed Abdu Rafu Memon, had lodged an FIR on March this year. Two accused, Sarkare and Jazil Navrange, also a trustee of Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust, were booked for cheating, forgery and theft. “Sarkare had taken money to sell the graves and also stole the receipt book of the Bada Qabrastan. Later, he and Navrange had issued receipts to the two grave buyers, Fayyaz Merchant and Anjum Merchant. The accused had forged the signature of the Qabrastan’s Nazir (manager) on the receipt book,” Rauf told TOI. He had earlier said that the receipts, issued by the accused do not reflect in computer records of the trust either.
Assistant police inspector Sushant Sawant is probing the case.