The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested Asif Shaikh in an effort to solve the mystery shrouding the fate of starlet Laila Khan and her family, but it is not prepared to trust the suspect’s confession just yet and is waiting to interrogate Parvez Ahmed Tak, who is currently in custody of the Jammu & Kashmir police.

Shaikh was detained from his residence in Juhu Galli after Tak mentioned his name during interrogation. Shaikh confessed that he and Tak shot and killed Laila and her family and threw their bodies from a cliff in Igatpuri.

Wanting to tally the two suspects’ confessions, the crime branch visited Jammu to seek custody of Tak, but the process was postponed for a week due to improper paperwork.

The case came to the fore after Laila’s biological father Nadir Patel complained to the police about his daughter’s disappearance last year and mentioned Shaikh and Tak in his complaint.

Shaikh was summoned to the Oshiwara police station and he said that he had divorced Laila’s mother five years ago and was unaware of the family’s whereabouts. Shaikh was released after his statement was recorded.

However, the crime branch Unit VIII arrested Shaikh after Tak mentioned his name during questioning by the Jammu police.

Tak confessed that he, along with Shaikh and Sonu alias Vafi took the family to a guesthouse in Igatpuri and then to Delhi. Sonu then accompanied Laila and her family to Dubai.

Sources added that the Mumbai Crime Branch will first tally the statements of both suspects once they have Tak in custody and decide whether to launch a search operation for the bodies.

DIG Jammu, Gharib Das said, “Tak earlier told the police that they had escaped to Dubai, but now he has changed his statement. We cannot trust him and until and unless we find the bodies, we cannot say that they have been killed.”

Abrar Ahmed Choudhary, Deputy Superintendent of Police Headquarters, Kishtwar, Jammu said that Tak revealed during interrogation that Laila had married Sonu and left the country.

He added that the Mumbai police would be arriving in Kishtwar and would receive full cooperation. A person named Jadhvani arranged fake passports for five members of her family to flee the country.