An Indian restaurant in Reading was fined £20,000 for employing staff in the UK illegally last year - and its link to an ongoing murder trial has seen the restaurant's manager fail to return to the UK, a court has heard. 

The revelations come as the murder trial over the death of Mr Vignesh Pattabi-Raman, a manager at the Vel Indian restaurant in Whitley Street, resumed at Reading Crown Count yesterday. 

Mr Raman, a 36-year-old from India, was knocked off his bike as he cycled home from the restaurant on Valentine's Day earlier this year. 

Shazeb Khalid, of no fixed abode, denies one count of murder. He has admitted to driving the car that struck Mr Raman and has admitted one count of manslaughter.

Soiheem Hussain, of Rossby, Shinfield also denies one count of murder.

Mya Reilly denies one count of assisting an offender, and another of perverting the course of justice.

The prosecution has argued that Vel restaurant's operation manager Mohammed Sadiq Ishmail - referred to as Sadiq and Mr Sadiq throughout the trial - asked Mr Hussain to find someone to threaten Mr Raman, who was seen as a potential whistle-blower over the restaurant hiring staff who were in the UK illegally. 

Mr Khalid had previously told the court that he had been asked by Mr Hussain to "scare" Mr Raman and that he would be paid £2,000 for the "plan."

Now the court has heard that the Vel restaurant had been fined £20,000 for employing migrant workers who were in the UK illegally.

The Vel restaurant's sister branch in Brighton was raided on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, in an "intelligence-led" operation - "meaning that the authorities had been tipped-off" according to defending barrister David Jeremy KC. 

The Reading branch was then raided on Friday, April 14, last year. 

Mr Sadiq left the country to visit India on Monday, February 5, of this year - and has not returned, despite intending to come back to the UK on Sunday, March 17. 

Mr Sadiq was "unlikely to return," Mr Jeremy said after relaying the facts agreed by the various legal teams. 

The circumstances around the Vel restaurant manager leaving the country formed part of Mr Jeremy's closing remarks to the jury as the trial nears its end. 

The barrister has argued that Mr Sadiq would have looked to threaten Mr Raman to avoid investigation from the authorities. 

"A plan to drive Mr Raman off the road would achieved everything Mr Sadiq would have wished to avoid," Mr Jeremy said. 

He continued: "Why would Sadiq be party to a plan to drive Mr Raman off the road, causing him really serious bodily harm? Why would Mr Sadiq have agreed to such a plan that would guarantee he could never return to his business or his family?" 

He has said that the prosecution's version of the "plan" makes "no sense."

Mr Khalid had admitted the "awful" crime of manslaughter, Mr Jeremy told the jury, adding that his client had done "despicable things" in the case. 

Bu the barrister said the evidence "positively shows this was a plan to intimidate that went disastrously wrong."

"A planned, targeted, and deliberate hit-and-run" was how prosecutor Sally Howes described the night of February 14. 

Recalling Mr Khalid's words from earlier in the trial, Ms Howes said that the suggestion that Mr Khalid only realised he had crashed into Mr Raman after he exited the vehicle was "wholly without creditability." 

Ms Howes said CCTV footage played to the jury revealed Mr Khalid discussing "loads of money" and a "dead weight" on the phone with Mr Hussain shortly after the crash - which the prosecution says ended with Mr Khalid taking close to £2,000 of the Vel's takings from Mr Raman's backpack.

Ms Howes pointed to alleged discrepancies in the Vel's booking keeping to suggest that thousands of pounds was being carried by Mr Raman when he was involved in the fatal collision. 

Mr Khalid had previously told the jury he had been referring to the cost to repair the Range Rover that he had crashed into a tree during the incident. Mr Jeremy has argued that there was no evidence that there was any money in Mr Raman's bag. 

He said: "The prosecution has always had to face the fact that despite the huge resources thrown at looking at CCTV from the restaurant it can't be shown Mr Raman putting cash in his backpack on the 14th February or any other day."

The legal teams for Mr Hussain and Ms Reilly have return to make their closing remarks as the trial continues.