Crime Branch takes over the mysterious death of Kasaragod truck driver; family version puts police in a spot

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Kasaragod: The Kasaragod District Crime Branch headed by DySP Uthamdas T has begun an investigation into the mysterious death of tipper truck driver Mohammed Asif (29) of Bayar Padav in Paivalige grama panchayat.
"The doctor who conducted the autopsy will also visit the incident scene today. We are recording the statements of relatives, residents and witnesses," said the officer. Forensic experts will inspect the site and collect evidence again.
The case was handed over to the Crime Branch after Asif's mother, Sakeena, and the CPM wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accusing Manjeshwar police of doing nothing to find out how Asif died. "Less than one hour after he left the house, my son was found with a lot of injuries. I have a lot of doubts about seeing the injuries. Manjeshwar police registered a case of unnatural death but they are not ready to investigate how he died. They have not yet retrieved CCTV footage from cameras along the road," Sakeena said.
Asif's family criticised Manjeshwar police for their shortcomings, not only in the investigation but also during the critical golden hour, when he was found incapacitated near his truck at Kayarkatta, about 3 km from his home, in the early hours of Wednesday, January 15.
Onmanorama spoke to the early responders, including police officers, relatives, and an ambulance driver, to gain insight into the sequence of events and the police's approach to the case.
The wasted golden hour
According to his mother, Sakeena, Asif left home with his tipper truck at 1.05 am on Wednesday, January 15.
At 1.08 am, a CCTV camera installed at a private building caught him zipping past Bayar Padav in Kasaragod's Paivalige panchayat. Around five minutes later, Manjeshwar Police's patrol vehicle was spotted taking the same road towards Uppala on NH 66, said Mohammed Munaz, Sakeena's younger sister's son.
Munaz, a pickup driver, said the two vehicles were captured again on CCTV cameras installed at a cooperative society at Bayar and a mosque on the same stretch at similar time intervals. At 1.22 am, ambulance driver Mujeeb, waiting at Bandiyod -- a small town between Kumbla and Uppala on NH 66 -- got a call from the Manjeshwar police station asking him to attend to a "drink and drive" accident case at Kayarkatta. "I asked the officer if there was anyone to accompany the patient. The officer said no and I refused to go as per the policy of the trust which runs the ambulance," Mujeeb told Onmanorama. He asked the police officer, a driver at Manjeshwar station, to try the 108 Ambulance.
At 1.42 am, Asif's maternal grandmother got a call from police saying he had met with an accident at Kayarkatta. The officer asked the family to reach the DM Health Centre at Bandiyod. "But I decided to go to the accident site. When I reached Kayarkatta at 1.52 am, the ambulance was still there," said Munaz.
Bayar Padav and Kayarkatta are just five minutes apart, so the patrol vehicle might have reached Asif much before 1.22 am. "If at least one police officer had agreed to accompany Asif, we could have saved much time and his life, too," said the cousin. He said the 108 Ambulance took a lot of time to reach the hospital. "Asif's hands were going cold. I asked the driver to turn on the siren and drive fast," he said.
Asif was first taken to the DM Health Centre at Bandiyod. The doctors did not attend to him. He was then taken to the District Cooperative Hospital in Kumbla, where he died. "The doctors told me they were trying to revive Asif who was almost gone. They said if only he was brought a bit earlier," said Munaz.
In the morning, the police officer who attended to Asif in the night called Munaz to enquire about the status. "When I said Asif is gone, the officer sounded surprised and said 'he was okay in the night'," he said.
The injuries
Manjeshwar Station House Officer Anoob Kumar E told Onmanorama the Flying Squad responded to a call that reported an accident and reached the site and found Asif. "He was too weak," he said.
The driver who called the first ambulance reported a case of an accident from drunk driving. But Munaz, Asbeer Bayar, a member of CPM's Bayar local committee, and a police officer said Asif was found sitting, leaning on the rear end of the truck, and not inside the vehicle. The truck was parked on the left side of the road, with the wheel rim barely touching the highway crash guard. "There was no sign of any accident," said Asbeer.
While heading to the hospital, Munaz noticed Asif's hip was dislocated and was jutting out on the right side. His shirt was ripped open, his jeans torn "as if attacked by a dog" and hanging loosely at his ankles, his belt snapped, and the black thread around his waist had come undone.
The skin on his outer right thigh was scraped, as if he'd skidded off a motorcycle. The bruise stretched 15 cm in length and 5 cm in width, said Asbeer.
There were blunt injuries on the two flanks of his torso, said Munaz. The circular contusion looked as if he was pressed with the tip of a baton, he said. "Asif was unable to speak. He murmured that he was struggling to breathe. I could only ask him to hang on and ask the driver to go fast," said Munaf. Neither the police nor the family have got the autopsy report yet.
Were the police reckless?
At 6 am on January 15, Asif's maternal cousin, Uppala Haneefa, went to Manjeshwar Police Station to report his death. "But the police didn’t arrive at the incident site until after 11 am," said Munaz. "There was no urgency to cordon off the scene. They could have done that the night before, but they didn’t," he added.
By then, mobile phone-wielding people had already entered the truck, sending photos and videos on WhatsApp. "They've contaminated the site. What’s left for the forensic team?" he wondered.
The photographs showed that there was blood splattered on the outside door of the driver's side. People also found a broken bamboo baton with a wrist strap inside the truck. "The strap suggested it could be a police baton. There were hairs on the baton. The forensic team has taken the baton," said Munaz.
How was he injured?
Asif, a commercial vehicle driver, lived with his mother, Sakeena and four younger sisters in a 400 sq ft house built under the Life Mission. He rarely took up late-night jobs, but when he did, he would inform his mother by 10 pm, said his family.
He had taken the Karnataka-registered tipper truck on lease five days before his death. He was yet to receive his first booking. The family still does not know why he left home at 1.05 am.
"The clues will be in his phones," said Munaz.
When he reached Kayarkatta that night, police gave him Asif's two phones, one a feature phone and one a smartphone. "I asked them how they got my grandmother's number. The officer said he asked Asif for the password and took the number saved under the name 'umma' from his phone. But I don't know if they asked him how he got injured," said Munaz.