According to Birendra Mandal, proprietor of Siddhi Auto Works at New Baneshwor, the person of around 35 identifying himself as M. Akbar Haidar had bought the Yamaha Crux (Ba.17.Pa 8733) for Rs 42,000 on January 22.[break]
He had booked the bike, which was repaired over a period of a month after its earlier owner Chandra Aryal sold it for a new one, on January 18 with an advance of Rs 2,000. Aryal had been using the motorbike financed by Miteri Saving and Co-operative Pvt. Ltd., which seems to have transferred ownership to the former on January 19 after loan clearance.
While signing a contract and before going away with the motorbike the new buyer promised to bring a no-objection letter from the Indian embassy on January 24, Mandal said. The contract also mentioned a mobile phone supposedly possessed by the buyer, and it did not have any photo. "We issued a receipt and also made out a contract, with an understanding to transfer ownership of the bike within 15 days. That is how all reconditioned bike trading centers deal with clients," he said.
"However, when we tried to called him on January 24, the mobile was switched off, and we did not follow it up any further. We did not guess our client had disappeared and only hoped he would return," Mandal told Republica.
"The person was accompanied by another Indian-looking guy, and conversed with me in a mix of Hindi and English for about five minutes while we signed the contract," he added.
Mandal said he was shocked when cops came to his workshop in the morning of February 10. He denied that he was arrested by the police who, however, held him briefly for interrogation. "I am helping the police in their investigation," he added.
Police have not yet been able to arrest any M. Akabar Haidar. Media entreprenuer Shah was shot dead in broad daylight on February 7 in Lazimpat by two masked men riding that very same motorbike.
Meanwhile, police, who are said to have arrested and released after scanning scores of dubious looking individuals from different places, arrested an Indian national from Tribhuvan International Airport on Thursday. He was about to board a Jet Airways flight for Delhi in the afternoon.
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