A jury has found Shazeb Khalid guilty of murder after he used a stolen Range Rover to mow down and kill a manager from a Reading restaurant earlier this year. 

Shazeb Khalid, 24 and of Engineers Court, had targeted Vignesh Raman, the manager of the Vel Indian restaurant in Reading town centre, as part of a "mission" to stop him from reporting alleged immigration infractions at the restaurant. 

The 36-year-old victim was cycling home after St. Valentine's evening dinner service at the restaurant when he was knocked off his bike by a Range Rover and then attacked by the driver as he lay critically injured on the ground.

Khalid, who drove the Range Rover that night, said during the trial that he only ever intended to "scare off" Mr Raman, after the restaurant he managed had been fined £30,000 for employing illegal immigrants.

However a jury today found Khalid guilty of murder.

Judge Amjad Nawaz, presiding over the proceedings at Reading Crown Court, told Khalid before sending him away: "Mr Khalid, there is only one sentence in law that I can pass for murder and that is a life sentence."

Another man, 27-year-old Soiheem Hussain, of Rossby in Shinfield, was accused of coordinating the murder along with Khalid.

However, the jury cleared Hussain of murder. He was found guilty of one count of assisting an offender instead.

During the trial opening, Prosecutor Sally Howes told the jury: "The fatal collision between the vehicle, which turned out to be a Range Rover Evoque, and Vignesh Raman on his bicycle, was not an unfortunate accident.

"This was a well-planned, well-coordinated, deliberate, targeted attack in which Shazeb Khalid and Soiheem Hussain both played a part and both are guilty of the murder of Vignesh Raman."

Mr Raman, who "put his heart and soul into his work" at the Vel restaurant had moved to the UK from India with his wife in December 2022, on a skilled worker visa, the court was told during the trial.

In the weeks leading up to his violent death, Mr Raman handed in his notice after he was offered a new role at the Hyatt Regency luxury restaurant and hotel in London.

On the night of Valentine's day this year, Mr Raman had finished closing down the restaurant and was cycling back to his home on Whitley Street in Reading when he was mown down in Addington Road by a Range Rover.

Mr Justin Hudson, who lived nearby and gave his testimony before the court earlier in the trial, told jurors he went outside to investigate and heard moaning coming from "something on the ground."

Ms Howes told jurors: "That 'something' was a man and his bicycle in a tangled heap. He was unconscious, his breathing was laboured, and there was a sound of gurgling."

Emergency services were called and Mr Raman was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, where he sadly died on February 15 at 01.39am.

A post-mortem examination later found that Mr Raman had died of a severe head injury caused by "a vehicle wheel running over the head or potentially a crushing event between two surfaces such as part of a car and a tree," jurors were told.

The subsequent police investigation revealed Khalid texted his then girlfriend Mya Reilly "I got a mission later" on Valentine's eve, just a few hours before Mr Raman's death.

Mya Reilly, aged 20, was also standing trial alongside Khalid and Hussain after she was accused of having provided Khalid with a "safe house" for him to stay after the murder of Mr Raman.

However the young woman, who is pregnant with their first child, was unanimously cleared of one count of perverting the course of justice.

Khalid and Hussain will both be sentenced at the same court on October 10 this year.