Kozhikode: A year after 55-year-old Muhammadali's sensational confession to two killings allegedly committed during his teenage years, police have achieved a major breakthrough in one of the cases by identifying the victim in the 1986 Koodaranji murder.

Investigators have established that the victim was Mohanan, a native of Velimanam in Iritty, Kannur district, who had been missing for decades. The breakthrough comes nearly a year after Vengara native Muhammadali approached the Vengara police station and confessed to committing two murders during his teenage years.

Muhammadali had stunned police in June last year by claiming that he had killed an unidentified youth in Koodaranji in November 1986 when he was just 14 years old. According to his statement, he was working as a labourer on a property in Koodaranji when the youth allegedly attempted to sexually assault him. He claimed that during the ensuing struggle, he kicked the youth into a nearby canal and fled the scene. He later learned that the man had drowned.

At the time, police had registered a case after the body was found in a canal behind the Mission Hospital in Koodaranji. However, local residents reportedly told investigators that the deceased suffered from epilepsy, leading authorities to treat the incident as a natural death. As no relatives came forward to identify the body, the case was eventually closed, and the deceased was buried as an unidentified person.

Following Muhammadali's confession, police reopened the case by tracing old records and newspaper reports from 1986. Investigators initially found the confession difficult to believe because of the passage of time and the absence of records identifying the victim. However, sustained inquiries eventually led them to Mohanan, whose disappearance had remained a mystery for nearly 40 years.

Police sources said investigators were able to establish significant links between the missing person and the locations the accused described during the inquiry. "After the news reports regarding the confession of Muhammedali, the relatives of Mohanan contacted the Thiruvambady police, suspecting that Muhammedali's confession was about the murder of Mohanan. We then examined the documents available at the Thiruvambady police station, dating back to 1986. The details provided by Mohanan's relatives and the police records verify that it was Mohanan whose body was found in 1986," said K Prashanth, Inspector, Thiruvambady Police.

Mohanan had left home for daily labour work in Kottayam and remained missing for several months. However, a letter his family received during that period had been posted from the Koodaranji post office. After newspaper reports appeared regarding an unidentified body found in Koodaranji in November 1986, Mohanan's relatives visited the Thiruvambady police station a few days later. Although the body had already been buried as unidentified, the relatives were able to identify Mohanan from a photograph of the body. Police had confirmed at that time itself that the deceased was Mohanan.

"Now, the relatives have shown photographs of Mohanan, and Muhammedali has identified him. We have reached a final conclusion, as conducting tests such as DNA analysis is not practical because it is difficult to exhume the remains after all these years," the Inspector said.

Meanwhile, police have intensified efforts to identify the second person whom Muhammedali claims to have killed at Kozhikode's Vellayil Beach in 1989. Muhammedali told investigators that a man had snatched money from him. Later, with the help of a friend, he traced the man to Vellayil Beach and murdered him. He said he did not know the victim's identity.

Following the confession, investigators conducted a preliminary inquiry and confirmed that a case matching Muhammedali's claims had indeed been registered at the then Vellayil police station on September 24, 1989. Police also verified that newspapers published the following day carried reports about the recovery of an unidentified body from Vellayil Beach. The investigation team is now attempting to establish the identity of that victim as well.