HOTEL OWNER MURDER

Man butchered in Kozhikode: CCTV shows accused carrying slain hotelier's body in bags

Kozhikode: More chilling details have emerged about the gruesome murder of hotelier Siddique. The accused trio, which includes a former employee at Siddique's hotel, committed the murder in a lodge in Eranhipalam here; two others carried the dismembered body in trolley bags to a parked car nearby through a crowded street.

People used to arrive at the lodge in large numbers as a private hospital is located nearby. The lodge is said to have closed down for some time earlier in the wake of certain complaints.

Siddique (58) arrived at the lodge around 3:40 pm on May 18. Accused Mohammed Shibili (22) and Farhana (18), reached there soon after. The rooms were booked in the name of the hotel itself.

The cops have collected CCTV footage that show the accused duo carrying large bags to the car around 3:10–3:15 pm on May 19.

Accused Shibili returned to the room after placing the first bag in the car. He returned along with Farhana, carrying the second bag, and placed it too in the car boot before speeding away.

The ‘chopped’ body parts were covered in plastic sheets before stuffing them into the bags, and ropes were tied around them. The blood samples collected from the lodge room were sent for DNA testing, police said.

Deep wound on the head; suffered injury on the chest too.

The accused had cut the body into three parts before carrying it in two trolley bags, as the preliminary post-mortem report has revealed. There are hints that a sharp-edged weapon was used for the same purpose. The investigation team will probe whether an electric cutter was used, the police sources said.

The body bore injury marks that point towards the use of force by the accused while murdering the hotelier. Besides a deep wound on the head, the body had marks of suffering a heavy beating on the chest. Many of the dismembered body parts were in decaying condition.

The final autopsy report will be handed over to the investigation team only after the forensic examination of internal parts has been completed.

The accused threw away the two trolley bags from Attapadi Churam into the George below. They were later recovered around 1:50 pm on Friday before a team led by Malappuram ASP Shahanasha and Tirur DySP K M Biju brought the dismembered body parts to the Kozhikode Government Medical College.

A team of doctors led by Dr Sujith Sreenivasan, Forensic Wing Head, started the autopsy around 4:20 pm. after conducting the X-ray examination of the body parts, and the process finally got over by 7:30 pm. The body was then taken to the Tirur Koorangath Juma Masjid, and the last rites were held by 9:30 pm.