[ad_1]
The Special Investigation Unit (SIT) is also investigating Ashraf’s twin murders, months after accused Shebin Ashraf and five of his gang members were arrested in connection with the murder of Mysore traditional healer Shabah Sharif The character in the case, a victim whose body was exhumed on Thursday.
The two murders were reported in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) two years ago. Police exhumed the body of Dancy Anthony, 37, from the St. Joseph’s Church mortuary on Thursday and sent her body to Trisour Medical College Hospital for forensic examination.
Anthony and her employer, TP Harris, 45, are suspected of being murdered by Ashraf and his gang members in Abu Dhabi. Earlier, Harris’ body was also exhumed from a cemetery in Coonamangalam (Kozhikode) and sent for forensic examination. A senior SIT official said the results of the two deaths would be announced within a month.
Harris, Ashraf’s former business partner, was found dead from a cut wrist and Anthony was suffocated in Harris’ apartment. UAE police concluded it was a “suicide pact” and Harris killed Anthony before taking his own life. A month after Anthony’s death, her body was brought to the country and buried.
The murder angle of the two deaths came to light when the SIT investigated Shareef’s case, officials briefed on the development said. Sharif was kidnapped from Mysore in 2019 and killed a year later.
After Kerala police arrested Ashraf and his gang members in connection with the therapist’s murder in May, Harris’ mother lodged a complaint with police asking for an investigation into his death.
Last week, SIT had sought permission from a court in Thrissur to exhume Anthony’s body. Earlier, her family was told that Anthony, a mother of three, had died in an accident, police said. They were later told she had died of cardiac arrest.
“Initially we did suspect some wrongdoing in her death, but since we had no evidence, we dismissed it. Her mother, Rosily, was only informed of the murder days after police arrived at their home to accept her statement,” Anthony A relative of T Varkey said.
During the investigation, SIT officials said they uncovered a blueprint to eliminate both.
According to the SIT, Ashraf allegedly came into contact with eight people who were sent to the UAE on visit visas in 2020. The SIT investigation said Ashraf allegedly arranged for Harris an apartment in the same apartment where they lived. The four people allegedly involved in the murder of the therapist were also involved in the twin murders, SIT found.
When investigating the arrested defendants, they admitted before the SIT that they had developed a friendly relationship with Harris. On the day of the crime, the defendant locked Harris in his apartment and summoned his manager. They said he was forced to suffocate a collapsing Anthony in order to fingerprint her before killing Harris. The defendants told SIT they tortured Harris, slitting his wrists before he bled to death. Later, the accused suffocated Anthony again with a cape, they told SIT.
SIT also said that Ashraf was monitoring everything from his home in Wayanad, in the northern state of Kerala.
In April, Ashraf gang members – Shihabuddin, M Nousahd and Zakeer – tried to set themselves on fire in front of the state secretariat, claiming they were being pursued by Ashraf. They were later subdued by police, and while in custody, they admitted to the therapist’s killing and handed over a pen drive carrying his “torture session.” The pen drive also provides information on some conversations that mention how the twin murders happened. Translates to “smart suicide”.
Two weeks ago, a retired deputy inspector of Ashraf’s close aide S Surendran turned himself in at a court in Idukki after evading arrest for four months. Police suspect Surendran helped Ashraf and may have been an accomplice in some of the murders. During the investigation, the SIT also discovered that Surendran had travelled overseas for the past five years.
[ad_2]
Source link