Aqil Akhtar, son of former Punjab DGP, died under suspicious circumstances after alleging family conspiracy in a video on social media. A sensational twist has emerged in the mysterious death of former Punjab DGP Mohammad Mustafa’s son, Aqil Akhtar, after a resurfaced video showed the 35-year-old alleging that his father had an affair with his wife – and that his mother and sister were conspiring to kill him.
The Haryana Police on Tuesday booked Mustafa, a retired DGP (human rights), and his wife, former minister and three-time MLA Razia Sultana, for the alleged murder of their son in Panchkula on the night of October 16.
According to police, Aqil was found unconscious at his Sector 4 home in the Mansa Devi Complex area and declared dead upon arrival at Civil Hospital in Sector 6. His family had claimed it was a case of drug overdose, and the body was released after post-mortem for cremation at their native Saharanpur village in Uttar Pradesh.
However, the case took a dramatic turn when Shamshudeen Chaudhary, a resident of Malerkotla and acquaintance of the family, lodged a complaint citing Aqil’s August 27 video post. In the video, Aqil claimed his father and wife were having an affair, and that his family planned to either “get him killed” or “frame him in a false case.”
“I have discovered my wife’s affair with my dad. I am under immense mental trauma. My mother and sister are also part of the conspiracy,” Aqil had said in the video, adding that he feared for his life. Chaudhary, in his complaint, said the circumstances of Aqil’s sudden death appeared suspicious and matched his earlier apprehensions. He urged the Haryana DGP and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to ensure an “impartial and transparent probe,” submitting screenshots of Aqil’s diary and his social media posts as supporting evidence.
Contradictory claims
In another video recorded weeks before his death, Aqil claimed his family labelled him “mentally unstable” to discredit him and had confined him illegally at a rehabilitation centre. “This confinement was illegal… They threatened to frame me in a rape or murder case if I took any step against them,” he alleged. Aqil later posted a video retracting some of his earlier claims, saying he was under mental distress – but even that video ended abruptly with him saying, “Will they get me killed? They are all scoundrels.”
Reacting to the FIR, Mustafa dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” claiming that his son was mentally unstable and a drug addict. “He had been admitted to rehabilitation centres multiple times. The video was made when he was not in a sound mental state,” Mustafa said, adding that Aqil had later posted another video in October “contradicting” his earlier claims.
Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Srishti Gupta confirmed that a case has been registered under Sections 103(1) (murder) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Mustafa, Sultana, their daughter, and daughter-in-law. Gupta said a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed under the supervision of an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) to probe the case.
“The SIT will investigate with an open mind and without prejudice. No guilty person will be spared, and no innocent person will suffer,” she said. Mustafa retired from the Punjab Police in 2021 before joining the Congress. His wife, Razia Sultana, served as a cabinet minister in the Punjab government between 2017 and 2022 and is a three-time MLA from Malerkotla. Aqil, who leaves behind his wife and two young children, was reportedly living separately from his parents before his death.
