A Brooklyn cabbie is on trial this week for allegedly conspiring to kill the relatives of his daughter's lover.
According to prosecutors, 61-year-old Pakistan native Mohammed Ajmal Choudhry had his overseas relatives murder the family of Shujat Abbas, the boyfriend of Choudhry's married daughter. Choudhry had allegedly forced daughter Amina Ajmal to marry cousin Abrar Ahmed Babar in 2012. Ajmal, meanwhile, was reportedly in love with another man, Shujat Abbas, and ran off with him; officials say Choudhry subsequently threatened to have Abbas's family members killed.
Court documents allege that in January 2013, Choudhry, who lives in Flatbush, then "engaged in telephone conversations" with a co-conspirator in Pakistan. And in February 2013, Abbas's father and sister were gunned down in their Pakistani village, allegedly led by Choudhry's family member and by Babar. "I saw my father's dead body on the ground," another one of Abbas's sisters testified. "Other people were standing around my sister (poking) her body with their guns."
Earlier reports note that Ajmal, who is an American citizen, was held captive by Babar's relatives in Pakistan, later managing to flee and find refuge in the U.S. embassy. It has also been alleged that Choudhry falsified a visa application for Babar, forging Ajmal's signature.
Choudhry's lawyer told reporters that the murders of Abbas's family members may have been committed over land.
