The three suspects involved in the murder of Mechery Siddique, the hotelier from Tirur, will be taken to the crime spot again as the Nadakkavu police have taken over further investigation from Malappuram police.
The case files related to the arrest of the three have been handed over to the Station House Officer at the Nadakkavu station to initiate further proceedings in three days.
Police officers from Nadakkavu station said they would soon move court to secure custody of the three — Shibili, 22, Farhana, 19 and Ashiq, 23 — to gather more evidence in the case. The three, now in judicial custody, would be taken to the crime spot and other locations they had visited to purchase the tools used for the murder, police sources said.
It was on May 26 that the dismembered body of the missing hotelier was recovered from the ghats of Attappady. The police investigation subsequently carried out into the incident unveiled a well-planned murder by the three who allegedly lured the victim into a suspected honey trap. According to the special investigation team from Malappuram district, the man was murdered at a hotel in Kozhikode city on May 18.
The involvement of the three-member gang came to light through a closed circuit television camera visual from the crime spot. The cameras had caught them in action while carrying the dismembered body in a trolley bag to a parked vehicle along the road. There were also other strong pieces of evidence against the three who were known to each other for a long time and had an axe to grind with the hotelier.
The post-mortem report too had endorsed the finding of the police that the man was murdered after cruel torture. Severe chest contusions and windpipe lacerations had been confirmed in the medical report. His heart and lungs had been found damaged apart from the shattered head. According to the police, the three suspects had admitted to the crime in the process of the investigation.
