Crime branch to probe 'real cause' of Suraiya's death

MUMBAI: The Suraiya controversy has erupted all over again. Five months after the death of the legendary singer-actress, the city crime branch has decided to look into the circumstances leading to her death.
The police action comes in response to a February 13 letter written to the state director-general of police by advocate Majeed Memon on behalf of Haseena Bano Shabeer (40) who claims to be a close friend of Suraiya.The letter describes what it perceives as "suspicious" circumstances leading up to Suraiya''s death, and seeks a CID probe "in the interests of justice".
Suraiya was 75 years old when she died on January 31, 2004. Soon after, an unseemly controversy arose when her legal advisor Dhimant Thakar and his daughter Ami Shah came forward to claim the actress'' spacious Marine Drive flat, other properties and jewellery worth crores of rupees.
"It is too early to talk about an official inquiry but we have started collecting all the relevant legal and medical documents pertaining to Suraiya.
Shortly, we will be interrogating her close friends, neighbours and legal advisor as well," says a senior official from the city''s Crime Branch (Unit I) which received the legal note from Memon.
Shabeer says she was Suraiya''s neighbour and confidante for a very long time. "A few months before her death, Suraiya was shifted out of Krishna Mahal, her Marine Drive residence, to her lawyer''s house," she says. "I was present when her body was brought to Krishna Mahal for the final rites. I clearly remember blood oozing out of her mouth. Another neighbour, Saeeda, was constantly wiping it with a napkin. We also saw wounds on her leg." Shabeer alleges that Suraiya''s lawyer and his family were moving around the house after her death and took away documents from the bedroom.
In the month of February, the state of Maharashtra, through the administrator-general, had moved a petition in the Bombay high court and with an order from it, sealed all of Suraiya''s known properties.
Claiming all the allegations against him as false and bogus, Thakar says that the court has not passed any order till date. "Anybody can check the actual cause of Suraiya''s death from Harkisondas hospital," he says. "She was in hospital for three weeks. There is not an iota of evidence in the charges made by Shabbir."
Thakar insists that Shabbir and a few other persons are simply tarnishing Suraiya''s name. "How is it that these self-confessed wellwishers and friends never bothered to meet her in the last 30 years?" he questions, adding that a few months prior to her death, Suraiya moved in with his family at Dariya Mahal. "She trusted us and considered me and my wife her immediate family members," he says.
Shabbir, however,maintains that it is hard to believe that Suraiya decided to give away all her property to Thakar and his daughter. "As far as I remember, Suraiya always wanted to donate her property to a public trust," she says.