The second accused in the Abhimanyu murder case, Muhammad Shaeem, on Monday surrendered before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Ernakulam. He was absconding from July 2, 2018.
31-year-old Shaheem was part of the 16 member mob that attacked Abhimanyu and Arjun, both students at Maharaja's college and members of Students Federation of India (SFI). He has now been remanded in police custody for five days by the court. Shaheem, a member of the Campus Front of India — the student wing of the Popular Front of India (PFI), is accused of stabbing Arjun.
Abhimanyu and Arjun were attacked by a mob of 16 people from the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the PFI. The attacks took place due to an argument over which group gets to paint a wall to welcome the new batch of students.
Mekkattu Sahal Hamsa of Maradu, the first accused in the case is still at large. He is accused of stabbing 19-year-old Abhimanyu near the back gate of the college.
Close to a year after the double murders, the family of Abhimanyu had expressed concerns over the delay by the police in nabbing all those accused in the case. Abhimanyu's father Manoharan had raised concerns after some of the accused in the case had reportedly fled the country.
The trial for the case began only in July this year. All the accused in the case were identified using CCTV footage the police collected from the nearby shops.
With the arrest of Shaheem, all 15 of the 16 accused in the case are now in police custody. The police have so far charge-sheeted 14 of the accused.
The Hindu reported that the police would be interrogating Shaheem to get details about the murder weapon used in the crime.