Kozhikode: Nilambur businessman Shaibin Sharif who is accused in the murder of a Mysuru healer is suspected to be the mastermind of two suspicious deaths each in the UAE and Karnataka as per the claims of the distraught kin of the people he likely targeted.
Within hours after he came under a cloud over the untimely deaths of his overseas-based business partner Harris and his manager, a woman in Sulthan Bathery has approached the police to hold a probe into the 2020 drowning of her husband, Deepesh, in a pond at a coffee estate in Kunda in the Belagavi district of Karnataka. He had earlier filed a case against Shaibin over a spat following a tug-of-war held at Beenachi a few years ago.
Deepesh was abducted and assaulted by Shaibin's henchmen over the dispute. Up on his release, Deepesh had filed a police complaint against Shaibin and the latter was booked.
Both Sulthan Bathery and Beenachi are in Wayanad district, close to Nilambur, the native place of Shaibin in the neighbouring Malappuram district.
Deepesh wife Jisa has now approached the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Wayanad, seeking to unveil the mystery behind his death. She filed a complaint in this regard on Saturday.
Dispute during tug-of-war to drowning
Deepesh, 36, of Dottapankulam locality of Sulthan Bathery was found dead on March 4, 2020. The family was told he drowned after his leg got enmeshed in fishing net. His relatives claimed this was unlikely as he was a skilled swimmer.
He had fished in and swam cross the sprawling pond several times earlier, Deepesh's brother Dileep stated.
Deepesh was employed at the coffee estate, watering the crop. He was alone in the vast estate that day.
The family could neither get hold of the autopsy report nor follow-up the matter in the neighbouring state as the death happened days before the COVID-19 pandemic acquired worrying proportions and the nation went into a long lockdown.
Curiously, Deepesh was reported dead within a hour after Shaibin's UAE business partner and his aide were found dead abroad!
Fuelling suspicion that the deaths were unnatural a speech-impaired boy who was reportedly witness to Deepesh's last moments was found dead later after an alleged suicide! Deepesh's friends claimed this death too was suspicious.
The UAE murders
Meanwhile, Harris' mother Saira Beevi claimed he was eliminated as Shaibin had an affair with her daughter-in-law.
Harris came to know about his relationship with his business partner and faced threats from the duo, she said.
She is set to file a complaint with the police with the latest developments that point to Shaibin's criminal activities.
As reported earlier a few days ago Shaibin's accomplices exposed his role in the 2019 abduction of Shaba Sharif, 60, and his murder in October 2020 in Nilambur after a failed bid to seize from the healer the cure for piles. They also claimed Harris and his manager was also murdered around this time and released a blueprint detailing the modus operandi.
Kozhikode native Harris was the business partner of Shaibin in Abu Dhabi. Harris' relatives have said that a dispute with Shaibin could have culminated in his death.
Harris was found dead with his wrist slit at a flat in Abu Dhabi on March 5, 2020. A woman, who had been Harris' manager, was also found dead. Shaibin had termed the deaths as murder-suicide: Harris killed her and then killed himself.
Harris’ family had lodged a complaint with the Kozhikode City Police Commissioner after getting suspicious about his death. But they were against exhuming the body for examination. His friend Anwar said that the family did not go ahead with the complaint as they faced threat.
