Ottapalam murder: Burglar confesses to murdering friend, hiding body months ago

Police carries mortal remains which is suspected to be Ashique's
Police carries mortal remains which is suspected to be Ashique's

Palakkad: In a shocking case, a theft case accused revealed to the police that he had murdered and buried his friend months ago.

Mohammad Firoz, who is accused of murdering and burying his friend Muhammed Ashique, 24, at Palappuram in Ottapalam, made calculated moves to avoid raising any suspicions.

Ashique's body was recovered from a private field following his friend's revelation. Samples from his remains will be sent for forensic examination.

Ploy to fool relatives

The accused visited Ashique's house several times as part of his ploy to hide his crime.

Though he tried his best to avoid getting caught, a breakthrough happened after the probe team questioned the inconsistencies in his statements.

Even after killing his friend, Firoz went to Ashique's house looking for him. Firoz convinced the family that Ashique had gone for a long trip and would be back soon. He was among those who advised the relatives that they should approach the police if Ashique did not return soon. He keenly monitored the actions of Ashique's relatives.

He stayed at various places and lied to his friends as well. The police had been keeping a close watch on Firoz, who is alsp suspected to be involved in drug trafficking.

Even when he was hiding at various places, Firoz called Ashique's brother and made enquiries about him.

The family awaited the return of their son without approaching police, all the while trusting Firoz.

If Firoz had not been taken into police custody over a robbery case now, Ashique would have likely ended up in the list of unsolved missing person cases.

The police suspicion strengthened after Ashique's phone was found to have stopped functioning on the night of the murder. The phone's location was last found to be within Ottapalam East limits.

With this, the probe team ascertained that some untoward incident had happened. The police solved the case by closely examining Firoz’s statements and questioning him.

Ashique and Firoz were co-accused in several cases including burglary and drug trafficking. The duo fell out of favor with each other when the latter attempted to leave the country.

Ashique feared that if Firoz absconds he will be left alone to defend himself in the multiple cases.

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