Was Rehan Sheikh Killed For Talking About Sunrise Equities?

Rehan Sheikh on the air, Sept. 21, 2008

Some people believe that Chicago radio host Rehan Sheikh was murdered for speaking out publicly about the Sunrise Equities scandal in Chicago. We will probably never know the cause of his sudden and mysterious death, or whether it is connected to the Sunrise Equities story. He'd gotten too close for comfort - the comfort of the perpetrators, the comfort of those affiliated with Sunrise, and the comfort of religious zealots who don't like the Muslim community being embarrassed by the story (also see UPDATED: Obama's Connections to Sunrise Equities, Part Two).

It is a story that involves Barack Obama and some of his bundlers, two prominent Chicago aldermen, local and international real estate developers, and a few shady characters. Rehan Sheikh, a Rogers Park resident who immigrated from Pakistan, drove a taxicab between his weekly Sunday night talk show. Recently, he told The Bench that he feared for his own safety, even his life. His taxi was vandalized just days before his death, and his body was immediately flown back to Pakistan with no autopsy.

You can read more about Rehan's death in our Oct. 23 post, "Obama's Connections to Sunrise Equities, Part Two." The Bench, however, is not the only source covering the Sunrise Equities debacle, or the possibly-related death of Rehan Sheikh. Some excellent reporting by "Grammar Girl" at RP1000 gives still more insight. Grammar Girl was close to Rehan; she developed a good source of information with him. It can be said now, with his passing, that Rehan was a source of information for RP1000 as well as for The Bench.

Grammar Girl wrote this on October 24:

For those of you who followed the story I enlarged upon re: Sunrise Equities and Salman Ibrahim, there has been a new twist. As you know, I did not reveal my source, at his request. And now, it seems my source is DEAD. Coincidence? I think not, as do many others.... He told me, JUST FORTY-ONE DAYS AGO, that he had been THREATENED WITH DEATH if he told anyone about the Sunrise Equities scandal. He said others had been threatened also. He had been, but was no longer, friends with Mohammad Tariq Siddiqui, "the "builder", former Ibrahim associate, and bundler for Barack Obama. READ THE FULL POST at Rogers Park in 1000 Words!...