Kozhikode: The Kozhikode police on Tuesday arrested Basheerudheen Mahmoud Ahmed, the boyfriend of Ayisha Rasha (21), the physiotherapy student who died by suicide. Basheerudheen, who is a gym trainer, has been charged with abetment of suicide. 

The Nadakkavu police, who took him into custody on Monday, confirmed his arrest. An officer said that Basheerudheen has been produced before the court.

Ayisha, a resident of Thorayil, Modakkallur near Atholi, was found hanging from the staircase railing of Basheerudheen’s rented apartment in Eranhipalam on Sunday. It is believed she had gone to stay with him without informing her family. 

Ayisha's family said they were unaware of the relationship and are demanding answers about the circumstances that led to her death. "We didn’t know this man or that she had gone to stay with him. But her friends told us he used to assault her physically, which may have driven her to suicide," a family member told Onmanorama.

It is learned that the police have retrieved a message from Ayisha on Basheerudheen’s mobile phone, in which she held him responsible for her death. Ayisha was a third-year physiotherapy student at Shree Devi College in Mangaluru.