HORROR ATTACK on Media Mogul

Mahi Jalil abducted and tortured by criminal gang

James Frankcom: Mahi Ferdous Jalil, the well known owner of Channel S Television, is recovering in hospital after surviving a terrifying ordeal where he was abducted outside work by a criminal gang and then horrifically tortured.

During his ordeal he began to pray and, in circumstances described as ‘divine intervention,’ was freed after one of his captors overheard him praying and decided to help him escape.

Mr. Jalil suffered serious injuries to his head, face, arms, legs and hands caused by repeated blows from a hammer, punches and kicks and having boiling water poured over him.

In a short statement the police said, “A 38 year old man remains in an east London hospital in a serious but stable condition following an alleged assault on
Wednesday 25th May in Walthamstow E17. Enquiries by Waltham Forest Police are continuing.”

East London News visited Mr. Jalil at hospital where he is surrounded by family and friends and making good recovery. In emotional scenes Mr Jalil described the shocking events that had followed his abduction from outside his office in Walthamstow in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Mr Jalil told us that he had been leaving work at about 1:30 am on Wednesday morning and had just got into his car in the office car park. As he attempted to leave the car park he found his exit blocked by a people carrier. A large group of men, one of whom was apparently armed with a gun, then emerged from the people carrier and ordered Mr. Jalil out of his car.

According to Mr. Jalil, he was then bundled into a second car waiting nearby and held down in the back by two men. All the vehicles – including Mr. Jalil’s own were driven away taking him with them on a long journey across the city.

It was to be a very long night for Mr. Jalil. After he arrived at the back of what appeared to him to be an Indian restaurant somewhere in West London he was thrown into a storeroom.

There then followed scenes you would more expect to find in a Guy Richie gangster flick than a west London restaurant as the criminal gang, who he says numbered about sixteen men, set about viciously assaulting him. Shaking with emotion Jalil recounted to us how he was horrifically beaten around the head with a hammer causing major trauma to his head as well as wounds to his hands as he attempted to protect himself.

During the assault the gang repeatedly demanded large amounts of money from him and searched him for credit cards and any evidence of gaining access to cash. To their obvious disappointment only £90 in cash was found.

After the beating with the hammer the gang then strung Mr. Jalil up by his ankles, hanging him upside-down in the storeroom and kicked and punched him. In a sickening act of torture they then proceeded to pour boiling water over him while demanding to know where the money was.

It was during a pause in this torment when most of the gang had left the storeroom to take drugs that Mr Jalil – who was still hanging upside down by his ankles – began to pray to God for help, reading from passages of the Quran.

His simple act of praying then set in motion the most extraordinary chain of events.

One of the gang members who was still in the room and had been set to guarding him overheard his prayers and initiated a remarkable conversation. 
According to Mr. Jalil this gang member told him he had a “beautiful voice” and asked him if he regularly went to mosque to pray. Mr. Jalil responded that he went “sometimes” and yes, he did pray.

Mr. Jalil told us the gang member then said to him; “I don’t know the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong.”

What happened next occurred after the remaining gang members had left the storeroom thus leaving Jalil and this one gang member alone to continue their extraordinary conversation.

The gang member then offered to “help” Mr. Jalil but at first demanded £50,000 to set him free. After Mr. Jalil repeated that he did not have that sort of money the said gang member appeared to have had a moment of epiphany because he untied Mr. Jalil and took him out of the building via another exit. He then sat Jalil in the back of a car and quickly drove away from the building leaving the rest of the gang behind.

Somewhere near the north circular road the gangster with a conscience stopped the car and, quite bizarrely, proceeded to give Jalil £30 to “get a taxi home”.

A badly injured Jalil managed to make his way home whereupon the police were called and he was taken to hospital for his terrible injuries to be treated.

Mr.  Jalil told us that he suspects the people who organised his ordeal are business rivals but declined to discuss the matter further due to concerns about prejudicing an ongoing police enquiry.

Anyone with any information on this crime should contact Waltham Forest Police on 0300 123 1212 or speak to Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.