Mysuru: The almost two-year-long wait of Shaba Sharif's wife Jabeena Taj and their nine children for his safe return home ended on Wednesday when Kerala police revealed the greed-fuelled brutality that took his life.

The 60-year-old traditional medicine practitioner was persuaded to accompany a Malayali man to Mysuru from his house in a slum here in August 2019, his family told Manorama News. They said the healer was forced to go despite being ill.

Superintendent of Police in Malappuram S Sujith Das had said that Sharif was taken away from his residence on a two-wheeler by Ponnakkaran Shihabuddin, 36, the manager of Nilambur-based NRI industrialist Shaibin Ashraf, 42. Both the men, along with two others, have been arrested.

The Mysuru man's family had lodged a man-missing complaint with the Saraswathipura police, a day after he had left home. They had been hoping for Sharif's safe return. The police's revelation came as a blunt blow to the family. The brutal reality has left the family in tears and pain.

Police said the man was tortured in detention, and once he was killed, the accused cut his body into pieces, packed them in plastic covers, and disposed them in the Chaliyar.

Sharif was taken away on the pretext of providing treatment to an elderly man from Kerala. He was told that the patient was staying in a Mysuru hotel.

The healer's neighbour Abdul Gafoor said Sharif ignored his ill-health and went with the men to treat the elderly patient. He added that the deceased man's family could identify the person who had taken him away from his residence.

Kerala police said the gang abducted Sharif to get the secret formula of a panacea he had been using to treat hemorrhoids. He was reportedly chained in Shaibin's residence at Nilambur, and tortured for the formula passed down to him by generations. Despite the brutality, he did not share the secret.