Fall Of A False Hero

For a self-styled crusader determined to root out crime and criminals from society, it was nothing short of a great fall. All his acquired exuberance, put-on expressions of being a social reformer and prophetic airs emanating every week from the small screen had turned TV producer Suhaib Illyasi into something of a hero. But that image was shattered when, on March 28, the police arrested him under the charges of forgery, torture and harassment of his wife Anju Illyasi ultimately driving her to suicide. The brave face and thumbs-up sign flashed by Illyasi while being taken to court under police custody didn’t quite bestow any grace on this crestfallen crusader.

Walking purposefully around in the glittering set of a busy office, the suave, clean-shaven crime-buster would exude rhetoric and exhort millions through his weekly programme India’s Most Wanted. In his high-pitched, thin voice, his index finger pointing provocatively at the viewer, Illyasi would throw an open challenge to a mesmerised audience across the country: Aapko hi is apradhi ko pakadwana hai (You’ve to get this criminal arrested)...together we’ll fight!

Illyasi’s nemesis came two months after his "harassed" wife Anju committed suicide by stabbing herself on January 10 this year. What’s amply clear now is that both Anju’s sister, Rashmi, and mother Rukma Singh had not forgiven Suhaib for Anju’s death. They were actually all along working on a strategy to bring Suhaib to book. Armed with a strong legal case and documentary evidence to support it, Rashmi made a statement to the courts alleging Suhaib had demanded dowry and tortured Anju, finally driving her to commit suicide.

According to the police, if the evidence produced by Rashmi and her mother is anything to go by, the real Suhaib is a total inversion of his popular crime-buster image. On the contrary, say the cops, he’s turned out to be like many of the crooks featured on his programme. Consider this: he obtained a fake degree from Jamia Millia Islamia on the basis of which he got a job in London. Once firmly ensconced in his job, Illyasi got a credit card and borrowed £8,000 to buy a BMW. Knowing full well that keeping two passports was illegal, Illyasi "deliberately" got two passports issued by altering his name and furnishing wrong information about his date of birth.

What’s really bad news for Illyasi is a personal diary and some letters written by Anju in which she detailed how Suhaib had tormented and tortured her. The police have booked Illyasi under sections 498(a), 304(b), 420, 468, 471 and 201 for destroying evidence. Apart from that, he’s also been booked under section 12 of the Passport Act of 1967. "At the moment we’re in the process of verifying the details furnished by Rashmi and Rukma Singh," S. Nithianandam, DCP (East Delhi), told Outlook. The main facts the cops want to verify are:

However, the police so far haven’t been able to seize any of his passports. Illyasi claims he "destroyed" his first passport which was issued "when (he) was a kid". Even then he’s in trouble as a passport is a government document and its destruction may invite legal action. Now, cooling his heels at Delhi’s Tihar jail, Suhaib Illyasi continues to hog media attention. But nothing could have been more ironical than this criminal headhunter finding himself in the company of India’s Most Wanted.