Kerala duo held in city for killing, chopping hotelier
CHENNAI: A man and woman from Kerala, who are the prime suspects in the murder of a hotelier whose body was chopped, stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a gorge there a week ago, were detained by the railway police at Egmore station on Thursday night. They were handed over to the Kerala police on Friday.
Sources said the officials here were not aware of the crime when they detained the man, Shibili (22), and his female friend, Sharfana (19), based on an input from their counterparts in Kerala.
They are accused of murdering Siddique (58) of Tirur in Malappuram, who was running a restaurant in Olavanna, Kozhikode. His family had reported him missing since May 18. Later, his body was found in a gorge along the Attappady ghat road. Tirur police said his body was cut in halves – the torso was in one trolley bag while the lower part was in another.
“They were absconding but were detained in Chennai with the help of railway police,” he said. Police said that the information about the body was revealed by a third person under custody, who is another friend of Shibili.
Police believe that the murder happened between May 18 and 19, and said it seems to have been motivated by some personal issues.
The investigators have collected CCTV images of the suspect from Kozhikode’s Eranhipalam area. Meanwhile, a close relative of the deceased told the media that he had settled the accounts with Shibli on May 18 and later went missing.
“Siddique was using an ATM card in the name of his younger son. After he went missing, the card was used at various places, and around Rs 1.5 lakh was withdrawn,” the kin told the media.
Police said the details of the murder and the motive behind it would be revealed only after further investigation.