A police investigation into a man missing case has unraveled a cold-blooded murder of a hotelier from Tirur in Malappuram district by a gang of youngsters.
The police recovered the chopped up body of Siddique Mechery, 59, from a deep gorge at Attappady ghat road on Friday with the help of the Fire and Rescue Services personnel. The body was shifted to Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, for postmortem.
Siddique, who owns a hotel in Kozhikode, was missing since May 18. His body, cut in halves, was found in two trolley briefcases. When one briefcase contained the upper torso, the other had the lower part in it. The police said the body was seven days old.
The police arrested three youngsters, including an 18-year-old woman, in connection with the murder. Several others were being questioned.
Malappuram District Police Chief Sujith Das S., who heads the investigation, said that Siddique was murdered at Hotel De Casa Inn at Eranhipalam, Kozhikode, either on May 18 or 19.
Siddique’s family grew suspicious as he became unreachable and his bank account started losing money since May 19. Within a couple of days, nearly ₹1.5 lakh was withdrawn from his account using his debit card and through UPI system.
Siddique’s son filed a complaint at the Tirur Police Station, and an investigation on the basis of the cash withdrawal helped the police zero in on the young culprits.
The police found that Siddique had checked in at the hotel on May 18 along with two others, Shibili, 22, and Farhana, 18. Shibili was an employee at Siddique’s hotel, but was fired because of misconduct.
The swiftness of the police helped the investigators nab Shibili and Farhana from Chennai on Thursday night. They were planning to leave for Guwahati from Chennai, but were detained by the Railway Protection Force.
“Ten of our teams worked on this case simultaneously from Thursday to Friday, and we could unravel a chilling murder committed by a couple of youngsters without any compunction,” said Mr. Sujith Das.
Apart from Shibili and Farhana, their friend Ashique, 23, from Cherpulassery was also arrested. Shibili and Farhana were being brought to Kerala.
“Let’s not make any guesses about the motive and modus operandi of the murder. We will learn about it when we talk to Shibili and Farhana,” said the District Police Chief.
Surveillance camera footages of the hotel showed Shibili and Farhana leaving the hotel with the two briefcases. They left the scene in Siddique’s car after placing the briefcases in the boot. The car was later recovered by the police.
The investigators found that the body in two briefcases had been dumped into a gorge that formed a tributary of the Kunthipuzha. “Because there was no water in the river, we could recover the body from the place where it was dumped. Otherwise, the river water would have carried it downstream,” said Mr. Sujith Das.
The police recovered Siddique’s blood stains, hairs and flesh from the Eranhipalam hotel room. “We have a classic case with ample pieces of evidence,” said the police chief.
