Perinthalmanna: A man has been arrested for killing his wife after she allegedly rejected his sexual advances. The murder took place shortly after midnight on April 8 at Elamkulam in Malappuram district.
Muhammed Rafeek (35) belonging to Pallikkunnu, Mannarkkad, in Palakkad district, also suspected the fidelity of his wife Fathima Fahna (30), said the police.
Meanwhile, Fahna’s parents Nafeesa and Poothrody Kunhalavi told the police that she apparently had no disputes with Rafeek. “Fahna, Rafeek and their child had supper by 7 pm on April 7 and went to sleep in their bedroom,” said the parents.
“Problems cropped up between the couple later at night. Rafeek killed Fahna after she refused to heed to his sexual demands. He also doubted her,” said a police officer.
Rafeek and Fahna lived with their four-and-a-half-year-old child at her parents’ house. After midnight on April 7, Fahna’s mother Nafeesa heard a commotion from their bedroom. When Nafeesa rushed to the room where Fahna slept with Rafeek, she noticed the door ajar. The main door of the house also was wide open. Nafeesa saw Rafeek running away.
On entering her daughter’s bedroom, Nafeesa found Fahna with hands and legs tied to the window grills and cot. She also had a cloth around her neck. Nafeesa raised an alarm and other relatives rushed Fahna to District Hospital, Perinthalmanna. However, doctors declared her dead on arrival.
Relatives also noticed that jewellery was missing from Fahna’s body.
The police immediately launched a search for Rafeek and located him within a few hours at his house in Mannarkkad. Fahna’s gold ornaments and the clothes Rafeek was allegedly wearing during the crime were recovered from a bag at his house.
Rafeek was arrested and charged with murder, among other sections. He was later produced before a court in Tirur and remanded to custody.
The police said that Rafeek is a history-sheeter who is an accused in multiple cases. “He was involved in a robbery case registered by the Railway Police in Kozhikode, and an attempt to set an ATM on fire under the Kalladikode police station limits in 2021,” said A Alavi, Circle Inspector of Police.
The police said that after murdering his wife, Rafeek took an auto-rickshaw from Elamkulam to Cherukara. From there, he reached Perinthalmanna by bus. He then boarded another bus to Mannarkkad.
The police have now sealed the room in which the crime took place.
The case is being investigated by a team comprising Sub-Inspector Ali; ASIs Viswambharan and Anita; SCPOs Sindhu, Rekhamol, Jayesh and Ullas and CPOs Praveen and Shajeer.
