Cherpulassery (Palakkad): Even as the gruesome details on the murder of Olavanna hotelier Siddique are coming out, the police have arrested three people, including a recently sacked employee, over the crime. Two of the accused — Shibili and Farhana — were reportedly opposing parties in a 2021 case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act but are now partners in both life and crime.

Chalavara native Farhana, now 18, had lodged a POCSO complaint against Shibili, 22, back in 2021, after which the duo got closer, the investigation has revealed.

The old case was filed with the Cherpulassery police station in Palakkad district in January 2021.

“The duo got close after this incident,” sources said.

Both Farhana and Shibili, a native of Vallapuzha, were taken into custody on Thursday from Chennai while fleeing after Siddique's murder.

As per the POCSO case complaint filed by Farhana and her family members, Shibili sexually harassed her at a roadside at Nenmara in 2018. She was only 13 years old then. A court had remanded Shibili to 14 days of judicial custody and he was in Alathur sub-jail during the period.

There were many complaints against the duo earlier too, according to local residents.

Meanwhile, the police have also taken into custody Farhana’s brother Gafoor from their house at Chalavara, which is in Ottappalam taluk. CCTV visuals show Gafoor leaving Siddique’s room along with the other accused while carrying a trolley bag, sources said.

Known delinquents

Recently, Farhana allegedly stole gold jewellery from her relative’s house at Karalmanna, near Cherpulassery, in Palakkad district. She had visited the house in connection with a wedding and made off with the gold. She had even left back a letter in which she admitted that she was behind the theft.

Police suspect that Farhana was fleeing with Shibili soon after murdering Siddique when they were caught.

Farhana's family had lodged a complaint with Cherpulassery police on May 24, a day after she went missing.

Police had visited Farhana’s house the other day. The locals, however, thought the same was in connection with the missing complaint filed by her parents.

The police team had arrived in three vehicles on the night of May 24. They took Gafoor along then itself and he is still in police custody. The cops again reached her house the next day morning and brought her father, Veerankutty, too, to the police station. However, he was released later in the day.

Both Farhana and Shibili were by then taken into custody from Chennai and the police team reached her house in connection with Siddique's murder, the sources said.

Siddique, a native of Tirur in Malappuram, went missing on May 18 and his dismembered body parts were recovered from two trolley bags thrown into a ravine at Agali in Attappadi the other day.

According to police, he was brutally killed at a hotel in Eranhipalam, Kozhikode, and three persons — Gafoor, Shibili and Farhana — were detained in this connection.

Meanwhile, the police had received complaints against Veerankutty too. A neighbour, in his complaint filed on May 13, accused Farhana’s father of creating a ruckus in an inebriated state.