Edavanna (Malappuram): The main accused in the murder of Pallipparamban Abdul Manaf has been arrested 25 years after the incident.
Malankadan Shafeeq (50), of Mundengara in Edavanna, was arrested from the Kozhikode airport. He is the son of MLA P V Anwar's sister.
The immigration department at the Kozhikode airport detained Shafeeq when he arrived at 5:10 am in a chartered flight from Sharjah. He was then handed over to the police.
Shafeeq was taken to the Manjeri Medical College to undergo COVID-19 tests. He was then presented before the magistrate through a video-conference. He was shifted to the Perinthalmanna sub-jail after he was remanded.
The Manjeri judicial first class magistrate had on July 25, 2018, issued a lookout notice against Shafeeq, who was residing in the Gulf, and the Interpol’s assistance was sought for his arrest.
Manaf, 29, an auto rickshaw driver and a resident of Vellachal, was murdered in the Othayi market on April 13, 1995.
The police said that the conspiracy to kill Manaf, an activist of the Youth League, was hatched at the house of the then Edavanna gram panchayat president P V Shauqat Ali.
Ali’s son P V Anwar, Malankadan Shafeeq, Malankadan Siyadh, Malankadan Sharif and others were behind the conspiracy, the police said.
They went to Manaf’s house with deadly weapons and attacked him. They then hacked him to death in the Othayi market, the police said. He was killed in front of his father Ali Kutty.
Malankadan Sharif had earlier surrendered to the police. P V Shauqat Ali died while the case was going on.
Twenty six people, including MLA P V Anwar, were accused in the case. Anwar and 20 others were, however, released by the trial court after the main witness in the case turned hostile.
The state government has filed an appeal against the verdict in the high court. The high court is also hearing a revision petition filed by Manaf's brother Abdul Razzaq.
