‘Couldn’t break drug supply chain’: Ex-Punjab senior cop on his son’s death, addiction

Chandigarh: Former Punjab DGP Mohammed Mustafa, who is booked in the murder of his own son Aqil Akhtar, told The Indian Express that he, who once led Punjab’s fight against drugs as head of the state’s Special Task Force (STF) on drugs, couldn’t win the battle against his own son’s addiction. In the murder case, Mustafa’s wife, and ex-minister, Razia Sultana, is also an accused.

He said that in the past 18 years, his family lived through hell. He lost his father, mother and sister, but losing his son was the most tragic. His son, who was 35, died earlier this month, and he and his wife are accused of the son's murder.

Nearly two months before his death, Aqil had recorded a video of himself in which he alleges that his father (Mustafa) and his wife are having an illicit relationship, while his mother and his sister were running a prostitution racket at their home. This was widely covered by mainstream media. According to Mustafa, his son was in a delusion due to his drug usage and at home, he talks nastier than this. He said that Aqil once said that politicians come to their home to satisfy their pleasure.

Aqil once tortured his wife, claiming that she was a prostitute before she married him. He had shot a video of the incident in which he used a belt on her, beat her up and forced her to say false things. Mustafa says that Aqil once claimed that Mustafa’s younger brother, who was a warden at the college Aqil’s wife studied, had a relationship with her.

According to Mustafa, his son got addicted when he was in class 9. He and his friend used to climb the school wall to use a hookah, and he got expelled from school. Though he and his wife met the school principal, and Aqil got a second chance, he was terminated from the school in six months. After that, he was terminated from schools, colleges, etc., in Chandigarh and Panchkula, Mustafa says. He adds that Aqil was a brilliant boy and he had cleared the entrance examination of a prestigious law college. Though he took admission in a law college and was brought in contact with several lawyers for practice, he never continued with them for long.

On the day of his death, October 16, he was inside his room but bolted from inside. This was not unusual for him, Mustafa says. However, when he didn’t open the whole day, they decided to check. He did not respond or open the door when they knocked or threatened to call the police on him. When they were finally able to get inside the room and rush him to the hospital, the doctor declared that he had died after doing an ECG.

From 2018, it was the worst phase of Aqil’s addiction, Mustafa said. He got married a year before, and he used to take money from his mother in the pretext of shopping, but he brought drugs. He who was earlier on marijuana later shifted to heroin, medical narcotics, etc., he says.

Aqil went violent one day, which was after the birth of his daughter. This was when his mother refused to give him money. Mustafa says that when Aqil gets violent, he gets inhumanely strong and attacks people, and therefore, his mother had to lock his wife and daughter inside a room.

According to Mustafa, what made it worse for Aqil was Mustafa’s failure to break the drug supply chain to which his son was connected. He says that he put his best efforts but couldn’t cut the supply chain for 18 years.