The family of Panthirikkara native Irshad whose body was retrieved from a river weeks after being abducted by gold smugglers has claimed that he was murdered.
The members of the smuggling gang that was arrested a day before Irshad's body was found in the Kadaloor River had claimed that he had jumped from the Purakkattiri Bridge.
It is this allegation that Irshad's father refuted on Friday saying his son was no stranger to swimming in the river and he couldn't have drowned in it.
"A man called Nasser did it (murder)," Irshad's father told media persons. "They threatened to dump his body if we filed a case. We wanted to save him somehow so we did not file a case until the last stage," he added.
Irshad had been abducted by a gang on July 6 from Peruvannamuzhi in Kozhikode. His body was retrieved on July 17.
However, then the body was mistaken for Meppayoor native Deepak and cremated.
It was only after the DNA tests were conducted that the identity of the deceased was revealed.
