TOI correspondent from London: Pakistan-born Shazeb Khalid,25, who was found guilty of murdering Indian restaurant manager Vignesh Pattabhiraman on February 14 has been sentenced to life in jail in Britain and will serve a minimum of 21 years behind bars.
At Reading crown court this week, Khalid’s friend Soiheem Hussain, 27, was sentenced to four years in prison for assisting the offender.The jury was told Hussain had brokered a £2,000 ‘contract fee’ for Khalid to murder Raman on behalf of the restaurant management.
Vignesh, an Indian citizen from IOB Colony near Marudhamalai, Coimbatore, was deliberately hit by Khalid in his car when he was cycling home from Vel, a South Indian restaurant in Reading. Khalid then assaulted him as he lay injured on the ground. Raman died a few hours later in hospital. It was Raman’s penultimate day working at Vel. He had landed a new job at the Hyatt Regency London – the Churchill.
Khalid, who moved from Pakistan to the UK in 2007 told the court he had been paid to “threaten and scare” Raman by Hussain who had received the “job” from “either the restaurant owner or manager” because Raman was suspected of reporting Vel to the Home Office for hiring illegal staff leading to a £20,000 penalty, paid by the director of Vel, Fathima Razack, on February 16, 2023.
Vignesh had moved to Reading with his wife, Ramya, in Dec 2022, on a skilled worker visa. Ramya told the court in a witness impact statement that he had been working at a hotel in Qatar when he received an offer to work in a hotel in Colorado, USA, but turned it down to work in the UK as they “thought it was safer”. She said the new job he landed in London was “the job of his dreams”. Vignesh’s murder led to her losing her spousal visa and her right to work in the UK and she has returned to India.
“Vignesh was a kind man who moved to the UK on the promise of a job providing opportunity and hope for him and his wife, Ramya. He was killed on a misguided belief that he was responsible for instigating an investigation into Vel restaurant employing illegal immigrants,” said senior investigating officer detective chief inspector Stuart Brangwin. “”I can only hope that the sentences passed provide some relief for Vignesh’s family.”