Then and now photos of Ameer ul-Islam. The police managed to arrest the accused after 50 days of the crime from Tamil Nadu.
The Kerala police team which investigated the brutal rape and murder of 30-year-old law student Jisha in Perumbavoor on April 28, 2016, relied on scientific evidence gathering to prove the crime.
The police was convinced right from the beginning that the charges had to be backed by solid pieces of proof, circumstantial evidence, and 'buttress proof' in the absence of eyewitnesses if it had to stand judicial scrutiny.
The officers scoured the crime scene, a one-room run-down structure on the banks of a canal in Perumbavoor, to pick up shreds of evidence.
They found a footwear from the undergrowth near the house. The police took the footwear, a single piece, to the town and called upon the public to help them find anyone whom they thought could have used it.
Meanwhile, another team was painstakingly going through the call data records of the victim and the accused to identify 'patterns or special occurrences.'
Jisha's body was in a pool of blood and the forensic examination found the blood stains of the accused there. The DNA tests too proved that the blood stains were of the accused Ameer ul-Islam.
The postmortem examination found that Jisha's genitals had been mutilated with a knife. The report also said the victim was stabbed on the face and the neck before being raped.
The police managed to arrest the accused, Ameer ul-Islam after 50 days of the crime from Tamil Nadu.
'A complete pervert'
Investigators termed him a complete 'pervert' who had a history of bestiality, including sex with animals.
Officers familiar with the investigation said he was totally non-cooperative with the investigation and had to be prodded hard for every bit of information. In between, Ameer ul-Islam denied his involvement in murder and said he was only present and the crime was committed by a friend by the name Anar ul-Islam.
The police ascertained that Anar ul-Islam too had left Kerala after April 28. The police discreetly dispatched a team to Nagaon in Assam. Anar's family told the police that he had left for Kerala.
The police team reportedly visited the family thrice and a superintendent of police of the crime branch was also part of the team once.
The police then sought the help of the Assam police's hi-tech cell to trace Anar. The police finally managed to find Anar and question him at the Jagori police station in Assam. But, the police could not find anything that could substantiate Ameer's claim that Anar had murdered Jisha.
The police team, zeroing in on Ameer, also found a 'sectored' bite mark on Jisha's body. This matched with the frontal dental layout of Anar.
The police submitted a 527-page charge sheet. It listed 195 witnesses, 75 objects as material evidence, and 125 documents.
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