COPS & GOLD NEXUS

Who killed Ridan Basil, and where is Mami?

The intervention of senior officers in gold smuggling cases has cast a shadow over the police department. The interventions were to protect those close to the officers, and in some instances, to wriggle themselves out of cases. Such interventions have added fuel to the allegations now raised against the police.

Ridan Basil was 24 when he was found dead with bullet injuries at Pulikunnumala of Malappuram in 2023. Two weeks before his death, the Edavanna resident spoke to his paternal uncle Mujeeb Rahman in April, saying he knew all about gold smuggling and possessed all the evidence. Police arrested eight people, including Mohammed Shaan, with whom Basil had left his home. A pistol, suspected to be the murder weapon, was found in a wood shed behind Shaan's house. Shaan had been working for an expatriate, and he later lost the job. Basil was reportedly held responsible for the job loss. Police said Shaan took revenge by murdering Basil.

Ridan Basil murder has once again grabbed the spotlight after PV Anvar, the LDF MLA from Nilambur, cited the murder as an example of the nexus between a few top police officers and gold smugglers. Following Anvar's statement, Basil's relatives, too, raised some doubts they had in their minds.

Basil was an accused in a case in which a man from Koratty, Thrissur, was kidnapped and assaulted. The kidnap and assault were over suspicion that the man had robbed gold smuggled into the state. Shaan's brother Nizam, too, was arrested in the case. Police then suspected that Nizam had links with gold smuggling gangs.  Basil had earlier served jail in a drug case. Though it was alleged that Basil's murder had gold-smuggling links, the police did not investigate the charge. Anvar alleged that the gold-smuggling angle was not probed following the official intervention to protect former Superintendent of Police S Sujith Das.

"Ridan Basil was carrying two mobile phones when Shaan took him from his house. The police had not found them yet. He told me that he had all the evidence (regarding gold smuggling). Was the evidence in those phones? Was he murdered for the phones? We believe that those in top positions are behind the incident. We will submit a petition to the chief minister, requesting a CBI probe," Basil's uncle Rahman said.

Basil's family has been viewing the police with suspicion. Two days after Basil's death, his wife Hiba Fathima was interrogated at Nilambur. The family alleged that the police deliberately tried to divert the probe by showing evidence of Fathima speaking with Shaan over the phone. They also alleged that Fathima was physically assaulted after she stood her ground despite being interrogated for hours. They said the woman was pulled by her hair and slapped. It was also alleged that a policeman gave hints that Shaan was willing to provide Rs 40 lakh to settle the case.

Shaan and seven others arrested in the case were later granted bail. Basil's family also alleged that SP Das camped in Nilambur when Fathima was assaulted. They felt that if gold smugglers were involved in the murder, attempts to protect them came from top police officers. Those out on bail are not under police surveillance now. The investigation has stopped, and the trial has yet to commence.

Only one officer in the dock
Only one police officer in the Malappuram district has faced action for alleged links with gold smugglers. The department acted against the sub-inspector Perumbadappu police N Sreejith, a resident of Kadakkal, in December last for allegedly tipping off smugglers about police plans. The suspension order mentioned telephone records pointing at Sreejith's financial dealings with smugglers

Incidentally, the same Sreejith was the one to complain about the axing of a tree on the camp office premises of Malappuram SP. 

Curious case of gold mixture
Police arrested an assistant commandant of the CISF posted at the Kozhikode airport for alleged links with gold smuggling in October 2023. Strangely, the sensational case has remained unsolved. A police team led by the then-district chief S Sujith Das had interrogated the officer for 24 hours before allowing him to leave without recording his arrest. A GST official with links to the CISF officer, too, was detained. It was then alleged that the case was put in cold storage following the intervention of senior police officers.

The police detained two passengers, who had cleared customs check, with 503 grams of gold mixture. Those who had arrived to receive the gold from the duo were also arrested. The details of anti-smuggling activities, including the duty schedule of customs officials, were found in the phone of one of the accused. Police said the finding took the probe to higher officials. 

The case was registered soon after Sujith Das had returned from an advanced training programme. He had gone for training even as a controversy over the custodial death of Tamir Jifri was raging in Malappuram. 

The police had received the central government's permission to interrogate the CISF officer. However, a shadow of doubt has been cast over the interrogation following allegations of a nexus between senior police officers and smugglers. Though the CISF officer was suspended from service based on the police report, he was later reinstated.

Mohammed Attoor remains afar 
The disappearance of Balussery resident Mohammed Attoor aka Mami was one of the incidents PV Anvar MLA pointed out in his bid to establish an unholy link between the police and gold smuggling gangs. Industrialist and real estate broker Mami of Kozhikode left his office for the masjid in the city centre around 6 pm on August 21, 2023. Almost an hour later, his wife received a message, purportedly from him, saying he would be late since he was far away. No one has seen him after that day.

Mami's relatives and friends suspected the intervention of senior police officers in the case. Their major suspicions were: The Nadakkavu SHO initially investigated the man-missing case. Later, the DCP's special squad took over the probe. A team under ADGP (law and order) MR Ajithkumar later took over the investigation. 

The case was taken away from the initial probe team following allegations were raised against them. The investigation was progressing when the case was shifted from the DCP's special team.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan promised the action committee and Mami's relatives that he would consider handing over the case to the crime branch. However, ADGP Ajithkumar issued an order constituting a team to probe the case. The team comprised the same officers who had initially investigated the case. Malappuram SP and the assistant commissioner of the Kozhikode crime branch were the only new faces on the team.

A complaint Mami's daughter had confidentially submitted to the deputy commissioner of Kozhikode police was leaked. The missing man's wife has moved the high court seeking a CBI probe.

(Prepared by Firos Ali, KP Safeena, and Naseeb Karattil).