Within 24 hours of claiming to have solved the twin murders of CMOs, the Lucknow police, on Saturday night said that it had solved the murder of Saifi Haider, aka, Saifi, an employee at the social welfare department.
The police arrested BSP leader Intezar Abdi “Bobby”, chairman of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Ganna Vikas Sansthan,
on Saturday night. Though Bobby was arrested when he went to meet UP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the police insisted that he had been picked up from Wazirganj. Bobby, also an accused in the torching of UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s house, told reporters that he had nothing to do with Saifi’s murder and was being framed in the case.
Saifi, an influential leader in the old city area, was sprayed with bullets on March 1 and two sharp shooters, Salim and Rustam, arrested by the Delhi police earlier this month had reportedly named Bobby as the mastermind of the crime. Initial police investigations pointed towards the involvement of a mafia don turned BSP MP, belonging to eastern UP in the Saifi murder case. Saifi and the BSP MP were making a bid for a coveted plot of land on Kursi Road. The police, however, turned the focus of investigation and accused Bobby. Officials have yet to determine the motive behind the crime.