Indian Jamia student’s body with bullet wounds found inside car near friend’s house

Police believed it was a suicide, family is certain of foul play

The body of Rizwan Khan, a 20-year-old student from Jamia Millia Islamia, was found on Tuesday in his car parked inside a gated government colony in south Delhi's Sarojini Nagar.

His family revealed that he was a national-level hockey player.

DCP (south) Romil Baaniya said it initially appeared to be a case of suicide but Khan’s family suspects foul play since the body was discovered in the same neighbourhood where his female friend, also a hockey player, lives. Police confirmed that no suicide note has been found.

Khan’s family and the authorities both believe he visited his friend’s house on Monday where he left a bag with Rs 2 lakh cash and a cellphone. He left his house with the money in order to make a payment for his brother.



According to Baaniya, it is unclear what happened between the time he left his friend’s house and when his body was found. Why he had left the bag of cash at his friend’s house is also unclear.

Baaniya said the victim's friend is currently in Bhopal. Riyazuddin Khan, brother of the deceased, accused the girl’s family of lying to them when they inquired about Rizwan on Monday.

“He left our home noon on Monday. When he did not return till late evening, we dialled his two phone numbers. One was found switched off, while the other was answered by the friend’s cousin. The cousin said that the bag and the phone were at their house, claiming first that they found it somewhere and then that Rizwan himself kept it there and left in a rush,” said Riyazuddin.

Riyazuddin said despite repeated requests, the friend’s family did not disclose where they lived. “Had we reached on time, we could have prevented his death,” said Riyazuddin.

When asked by the police, the friend's family said they were not convinced that the caller was Rizwan's relative which is why they refused to share the address.



“On Tuesday morning, we received a call from his friend in Bhopal who told us that Rizwan had left the bag at her house. The girl’s father, too, called around 7.15am and told us to collect the bag... I went there with my brother, Nawab. As I was inside their house, Nawab noticed Rizwan’s car parked nearby,” said Rizwan’s father Shareef Khan.

Nawab discovered Khan's body, upright on the driver’s seat in the unlocked car with a bullet wound on his temple. “We think he was killed and then the body was kept in the car afterwards as there were no bloodstains inside,” said Shareef Khan, an MTNL employee.

However, Baaniya contradicts this account, saying the country-made firearm with which Rizwan was shot was in his hand and that there were bloodstains in the car.

The police have seized the weapon and Baaniya added, “We are yet to establish why he shot himself. It has also come to our notice that he regularly visited his female friend’s house. For now, we don’t know what happened, but it appears he was angry after not finding her at the house,” said a police officer who did not wish to be named.

The woman’s family refused to speak to media on Tuesday.

This story originally appeared on Hindustan Times