Hair strand helped solve quack's murder case: Cop

A strand of hair helped the Kerala police secure a conviction of the main accused in the murder of a traditional healer (quack) from Mysuru whose body or remains were never discovered by investigators, police and prosecutors said on Thursday.

- Vishnu Varma

KOCHI:

The additional district and sessions court in Manjeri in Malappuram district found three people guilty of the abduction and murder of 60-year-old Shaba Sherif in October 2020. Judge Thushar M will pronounce the quantum of punishment for the convicts on Saturday.

The convicted were identified as Shaibin Ashraf (37), a businessman from Nilambur, and his accomplices Shihabudheen P (36) and Nishad Naduthodika (32). Nine others, including Ashraf's wife, were acquitted for lack of evidence against them.

"The three men were found guilty of homicide not amounting to murder, illegal detention, conspiracy and destruction of evidence among other charges. The victim, Shaba Sherif, was abducted from Mysuru on August 1, 2019 and he was killed on October 20, 2020 at a house in Nilambur. The FIR was registered only in May 2022 after information about the murder came out in the form of a confession by one of the accused to the police that year," said EN Krishnan Namboothiri, the public prosecutor in the case.