Kasaragod Riyas Moulavi murder: Prosecution fails to prove motive, all three accused acquitted

Kasaragod: The Kasaragod Sessions Court on Saturday acquitted all three accused in the sensational murder case of Mohammed Riyas Moulavi (34), a muezzin and madrasa teacher in Kasaragod.

The accused S Ajesh (20), N Akhilesh (25) and S Nithin (19), who are RSS-BJP activists and residents of Kelugude in Kasaragod town, have been in prison as under-trials for the past seven years. They were set free after Session Court Judge Balakrishnan K K acquitted them as the prosecution could not prove motive in the first place.

Riyas Moulavi, a native of Kodagu district in Karnataka, was a muezzin of Muhayuddin Juma Masjid at Choori on the outskirts of Kasaragod town. He was also a teacher at Issathul Islam Madrasa, a religious school of the mosque.

On the intervening night of March 20 and 21, 2017, miscreants entered the mosque compound and possibly knocked on the door of Riyas Moulavi. When he opened the door, they stabbed him 14 times and left him to die, said police. The unprovoked and motiveless murder pushed Kasaragod to the brink of communal violence.

On March 21, 2017, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) called for a hartal. It was a tense day. The same day, the State Police Chief formed a special investigation team headed by A Srinivas, who was then the Superintendent of Police of Kannur Crime Branch. The other members of the team were Mananthavady joint SP Jaydev G, Malappuram DCRB DySP M P Mohanachandran Nair, and Taliparamba inspector P K Sudhakaran. 

On March 24, 2017, on the third day of the murder, the special team arrested S Ajesh, N Akhilesh and S Nithin, who were then 20, 25 and 19 years respectively. 

Srinivas told this correspondent that the accused did not know the victim and the murder was motivated by communal hate. "I don't see any other reason," he said.

On Saturday after they were acquitted, their advocate T Sunil Kumar said that the prosecution not only failed in proving the charges but shoddily planted evidence against his clients. There were 14 stab injuries above the waist of Riyas Moulavi, said Adv Kumar. "The wounds were on his head and shoulders, too. The prosecution produced Moulavi's lungi as evidence. The lungi had these 14 stab marks. If we have to believe the prosecution, then we would have to assume Moulavi was sleeping with the lungi over his head when he was attacked," said Adv Kumar. But Riyas Moulavi, who lived alone, had to open the door for the miscreants because there was no forced entry.

Second, the prosecution had relied on government officials such as tehsildar, taluk officials and village officers as witnesses for recovering weapons. "There were no independent witnesses," he said. 

The identification parade was a botched-up exercise, he said. "The accused were under 25 years old. But the police line-up had men who were above 38 years old. The line-up also had Muslims who wore their lungis differently, making identification easier. Above all, the police showed the photos of the accused to the witnesses making the exercise a mockery," he said.

Another failure was the police did not seal the clothes of the first accused and alleged weapons when they were sent for DNA analysis, he said.

The defence also argued that the scissors classified as the murder weapon were manufactured and the blood was smeared on them from the crime scene. "So when the weapon and the clothes were not sealed separately, the DNA could get transferred because of the proximity," he said.

The first and the third accused were identified by the third witness Abdul Hameed, a neighbour who lived several blocks away. "He told the court that when he came out of his house to pee late in the night, he heard a commotion near the mosque and saw the accused leaving on a motorcycle," Adv Kumar said. "It was hard to believe him because it was dark and the motorcycle was at a distance. But he listed out around 10 features of the first and the third accused such as the colour of the shirt, jeans, his beard to identify them," he said.

The first witness, Hashim, was the only person who could have seen the murder and the culprits. "Hashim stayed on the mosque premises. He was the first to reach the crime scene. He saw Riyas Moulavi covered in blood and writhing in pain. But he too did not see the crime or the culprits," said Adv Kumar.

He said police picked the three youths because their mobile phones pinged off the tower at Choori. "Unfortunately, they were returning home either together or separately after attending the festival at Mallikarjuna Shiva Temple," he said.

Kasaragod Police's zero conviction rate
With these three acquittals, Kerala Police have maintained the dubious record of zero conviction in communal killings in Kasargod district since 2008.

On March 16, 2008, Muhammed Sinan was stabbed to death when he was 21 years old. BJP activists were arrested as accused. Senior leader and ace criminal advocate P S Sreedharan Pillai defended the accused and got their acquittal.

The court pulled up the police and then investigation officer K Damodaran for a shoddy investigation in the case.

Sinan was murdered in an apparent retaliation to the killing of BJP worker B Sandeep two days before. Police said it was a hate crime and Sinan was not linked to Sandeep's killing. Like in the case of Sinan's murder, all the accused in the murder case of Sandeep were also acquitted.

On January 9, 2011, Rishad, a textile shop salesperson, of Battompara was stabbed to death at Choori. SDPI activist Zainul Abid (24) was stabbed to death before his father at their mattress shop in Kasaragod's MG Road on December 22, 2014. 

On December 21, 2008, DYFI leader Abdul Sattar (32) was stabbed to death. All the three accused were acquitted for lack of evidence.

The court also acquitted the accused in the murder of CPM worker C Narayanan who was killed on Onam day on August 23, 2015. The police secured acquittal despite the murder having an eyewitness.

In May 2019, the sessions court acquitted all the seven accused in the murder case of Sabith (18). Pillai represented the accused in the case.