Kerala court finds 3 guilty in Mysuru healer’s murder

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| Photograph Credit score: REUTERS

The Extra District and Classes Court-I, Manjeri, in Malappuram distroct of Kerala on Thursday convicted three individuals in the murder of Shaba Sharif, a 60-year-old conventional healer from Rajiv Nagar, Mysuru.

Choose Thushar M. delivered a guilty verdict towards Shaibin Ashraf, 37, and his accomplices Shihabudheen P., 36, and Nishad Naduthodika, 32, for murder not amounting to murder, conspiracy and destruction of proof. The sentencing is scheduled for Saturday (March 22).

This case stood out as a result of lack of the sufferer’s physique or stays, prompting the police to depend on scientific proof, together with DNA affirmation, to construct their case and safe a conviction.

Nevertheless, the prosecution was unable to show murder, in spite of the sufferer having been tortured for over a yr and his physique dismembered and disposed of in a river.

The court acquitted 9 of the accused. The seventh accused, Noushad, cooperated with the investigation by turning approver and offering essential video proof displaying the sufferer being tortured.

Drug components

Shaba Sharif was kidnapped by Shaibin Ashraf and his associates on August 2, 2019. He was held captive and tortured at Shaibin’s home at Mukkatta, Nilambur, for over a yr, as they tried to extract from him a drug components for piles therapy. Regardless of the ordeal, Shaba Sharif refused to disclose the components.

Shaba Sharif succumbed to torture on October 20, 2020. The subsequent day, his physique was butchered by Shaibin Ashraf and his associates, who then threw the stays into the Chaliyar river from Seethi Haji Bridge at Edavanna close to Nilambur.

The murder went undetected for a yr and a half till April 29, 2022, when three members of Shaibin’s gang, Sakeer, Noushad and Saleem, tried self-immolation in entrance of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, seemingly to attract the authorities’ consideration to the crime.

After parting methods with Shaibin, the trio broke into his Mukkatta residence and stole ₹3 lakh and a pc. The police investigated the housebreaking based mostly on Shaibin’s criticism. Fearing retaliation from Shaibin, the trio tried self-immolation in the State capital, catching the police’s consideration.

Fortuitous discovery

Throughout questioning, the trio revealed the disturbing account of the Mysuru healer’s abduction, torture and murder. This led to a fortuitous discovery for the police, uncovering an almost two-year-old murder case. Shaibin, who had filed the housebreaking criticism, was uncovered because the mastermind behind the crime.

The police arrested Shaibin’s spouse Fasna, 28, on costs of conspiracy and destroying proof. However the costs towards her couldn’t be proved.

The police confronted a tricky problem in the case as no a part of the sufferer’s physique may very well be recovered, regardless of conducting searches in the Chaliyar river. Nevertheless, the police efficiently constructed a robust case towards Shaibin by DNA evaluation, which confirmed {that a} hair discovered in his automotive belonged to Shaba Sharif.