Suhaib Ilyasi

Suhaib Ilyasi (born 8 September 1966) is an Indian television producer and director. He was the host of the notable TV crime show India's Most Wanted. He was the editor of the news magazine Bureaucracy Today. After his wife died in 2000, Ilyasi was charged under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code for dowry death. He also got involved in a legal battle with his in-laws for the custody of his daughter. Ilyasi was acquitted in the case, while the charges 498A and 304B were also not proven and Ilyasi was discharged for the aforesaid charges in the trial court. Later, he was charged with murdering his wife 14 years after the incident. On 20 December 2017, he was convicted for the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 5 October 2018, Delhi High Court acquitted him, stating that there was no evidence against him on record to sustain the conviction.

Life

Marriage Ilyasi met Anju at Jamia Millia Islamia, a university in Delhi, where both were studying at the Mass Communication Research Centre, in November 1989. Anju's father was K. P. Singh, then head of metallurgy department.

Both families were opposed to the relationship, however they got married in London in 1993 under the Special Marriage Act. They lived in London until October 1994. Upon returning to India, Anju used to live in Ilyasi's house and returned to London after 6 months to her brother. Her brother, Prashant, who was working in London at the time, later said that Anju was considering divorce at the time, but he convinced her to stay in the marriage. In April 1994, Ilyasi came to London, the couple reconciled and they returned to India after a month. The next year their daughter Aaliya was born.

Anju returned in February 1999. They bought a new apartment at the same time in Mayur Vihar, in east Delhi, for and spent 10 months redecorating. They moved into the house in December 1999. They planned to celebrate Anju's 30th birthday on 16 January with a grand party. Rashmi claimed that Anju had an unhappy marriage for 7 years. She had in 1997 during a visit she saw Ilyasi assault Anju. She said that the apartment in which they were living was purchased with money provided by her. which was proved wrong during the trial. She also said that she had purchased the apartment for Anju's safety, but later retracted the statement. On 2 June 2000, Ilyasi was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on a personal bail bond of and two sureties of the same amount. He was asked to submit his passport, not moved out of Delhi without permission, and not threaten the witness or tamper with evidence.

On 11 July 2000, the Delhi High Court said that Rashmi and Rukma cannot take the custody of the child by force. The court said they may take a legal path to gain custody. Aaliya had been living with her father since 2 July. Ilyasi had complained that Rashmi had been trying to take away the child to Canada. He said that they had told him that they would charge him with threatening witnesses, if he did not give up custody.

On 29 May 2001, the Delhi High Court allowed Ilyasi to travel outside Delhi. He had sought permission to go to Mumbai for work. The court said he may do so after informing the police of his plans two days in advance. In 2005, Rukma Singh appeal to a session court that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe be started on the case. The court in August 2005 rejected the plea saying the plea filed after 5 years had no sufficient reason and was aimed at delaying the trial.

In August 2010, Rukma's counsel told the court that additional murder charges (Section 302 of Indian Penal Code) should be added to the case. Her claims were supported by the prosecution. Sharma said the doctor who carried out the post mortem did not deny the possibility of homicide. Sharma also told the court that even though Ilyasi claimed to snatch the knife away from Anju, neither his nor Anju's fingerprints were found on the knife. Ilyasi argued that the doctor cannot be relied upon because he was later transferred from the mortuary department after allegation of unprofessional work. The sessions court rejected the plea for additional murder charges in February 2011 after finding no new material in the case. In an interview in 2012, Ilyasi said that the murder charges were being sought to take custody of his daughter, then 15. He said that he had not taken dowry as it was a love marriage and he had paid for the expenses. In another interview, he said that the Indian dowry laws were biased against men.

In January 2013, the Delhi High Court stopped the proceedings of medical board. The police had formed a new medical board, as the previous board was split on its opinion whether it was murder. Ilyasi's counsel told them that the police had formed the new board without permission from the trial court, thus it was contempt of court. In March 2013, the Delhi High Court stayed the proceedings. The case was tried at a session court under section 498A/304B/302 IPC at Karkadooma District Court, New Delhi. Ilyasi was finally acquitted of all charges on 6 October 2015.

On 20 December 2017, Ilyasi was convicted of murdering his wife by a Delhi court, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. On 5 October 2018, Delhi High Court acquitted him, stating that there was no evidence against him on record to sustain the conviction. TRP. About 135 criminals featured on the show were caught. Shri Prakash Shukla, a wanted hitman featured on the show, was killed by police. The police later said that Ilyasi took credit unduly and the police had worked for months on the case. Following the success of his show, Ilyasi said that he was getting threats and requested police security. In 1999, he played himself in the film Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. Later, he parted ways with his partner Vinod Nayar and went to start Fugitive Most Wanted on Doordarshan. Zee TV, which owned the copyright, continued to produce India's Most Wanted and Manoj Raghuvanshi became the host. After his wife's death, in 2003 he tried to make a film on Shri Prakash Shukla called Wanted No. 1 where he was supposed to play the lead character. But, the film failed to take off. He produced, directed and acted in another film, Kamyab Rasta (2004) called, co-starring Poonam Dariyanani. He then went to work with India TV, where he conducted several sting operations. Soon, he restarted India's Most Wanted on India TV. In 2005, actors Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma were the targets of some of these sting operations. In July 2005, he announced plans to make a film on the misuse of dowry laws.

In March 2009, he started a magazine called Bureaucracy Today. He is also the editor-in-chief. In 2012, Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan, a TV serial produced by Ilyasi, was broadcast by Doordarshan. Suhaib Ilyasi recently released his feature film ‘Shaadi, Dahej & Gangster’ on OTT. The film is based on the subject of misuse of Dowry laws (Section 498A of IPC) in India.