Wayanad: The police team investigating the kidnapping and murder of Wayanad businessman Hemachandran took the prime accused, Noushad, to various parts of Wayanad and the neighbouring Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu, for evidence gathering on Friday morning.

According to the police, Noushad, a native of Sulthan Bathery, and his accomplices, Ajesh BS and Panangad Jyothishkumar, kidnapped Hemachandran from the casualty wing premises of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on March 20, 2024.

Noushad was brought to a house at Kaivettamoola near Beenachi, where the accused and accomplices allegedly murdered Hemachandran. The house, situated in Noushad's neighbourhood, was in his possession for many months before the crime. Police had collected the statements of the house owner regarding the incident.

Noushad and his accomplices brought Hemachandran to Wayanad and kept him captive for several days. The kidnapping followed multiple attempts to make the deceased repay the money he had borrowed from Noushad. Though police claim that Hemachandran was murdered, in a video posted on social networking platforms before courting arrest, Noushad claimed that Hemachandran's death was a suicide. "I had only buried the body with the help of two friends in the marshy land near Cherambadi," he added in the video.

The accused attempted to burn the body using petrol and sugar, and when the attempt failed, buried it deep in the marshes. Police also took Noushad to the shop from where they bought sugar, and also to the petrol pump from where petrol was purchased, and to Cherambadi in Tamil Nadu, from where the body was exhumed.

The prime accused had tried to secure the money by making Hemachandran source a car for monthly rent and pledge the vehicle with another money lender near Koyilandy in Kozhikode. Although a car was rented out, the attempt to pledge it failed because the moneylender refused to provide the necessary funds. Police had identified the moneylender and collected the details of the firm where the agreement for the pledging process was drafted. Police took Noushad to the firm from where the car was rented out and to the moneylender to collect evidence on Thursday.

Sources also indicated that police would soon take into custody two women, who had aided in the crime, and a youth from Wayanad, in connection with the murder.

According to police, Hemachandran had borrowed around ₹20 lakh from many people. The police team was headed by Kozhikode Medical College Assistant Commissioner A Umesh and Medical College police Inspector KK Agesh.