A day after the alleged abduction and murder of a 32-year-old expatriate in Kasaragod, the police revealed on Monday, June 27, that a 10-member gang from Paivalike village was behind the incident. Aboobacker Siddique, a native of Seethangoli in Kasaragod, was found brutally assaulted and abandoned at a private hospital on Sunday. Siddhique had returned from Dubai on Saturday after his brother Anwar and friend Ansari were abducted, assumedly by the same gang.
The police said Anwar and Ansari were abducted with the intention of luring Siddhique back to Kerala. As per reports, some issues related to hawala money dealings had resulted in the murder. With the help of CCTV footage, the police have identified some of the accused in the case, and two of them are in custody. Anwar and Ansari, who were severely assaulted by the group, are currently under treatment in a hospital in Mangalore. Only after recording their statements would the police be able to get more clarity on the reason behind the murder.
Meanwhile, one of Siddhique's acquaintances told TNM that disputes over hawala money and gold smuggling were a common occurrence in the district. “Many youngsters from Kasaragod who work in Gulf countries become agents and carriers for gold smuggling rackets. Oftentimes, this is also connected to hawala dealings. Hence, money disputes has been a common affair here for years, and they often result in abduction, assault, and sometimes even murder. But we are not sure if Siddhique was involved in all this. The police say the gang wanted him back in Kerala due to some issue over Rs 50 lakh,” he said.
Siddique’s relatives said he had received a call on Sunday, asking him to go to some place for a meetup. But when he reached there, he was abducted by a group of people in a car. Later, his relatives received a message that Siddhique had been dropped off at a hospital. Soon, he was sent in an ambulance to a hospital in Bandiyod. But according to the hospital authorities, he was already dead by the time the ambulance reached.
According to the police, Siddhique had blue rashes on his buttock and feet, because of which they assume he might have died of a heart attack triggered by severe assault. The exact cause of death will be known after the postmortem procedure, which will be carried out at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital.
It was just a month ago that another expatriate, Abdul Jaleel (42) of Agali in Attapadi, was abducted and murdered. Jaleel, who arrived from Jeddah at Nedumbassery on May 15, died on May 20 at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna, after his organs failed due to brutal assault. The police had found that he was working as a carrier for a gold smuggling racket, and some dispute in this regard had led to his death.