Salims murder was a well-planned one

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The brutal murder of a 44-year-old man, Salim, at Attingal near here by his close friend Sherif was a perfectly planned one. The police say that the murder was not the result of any sudden dispute between the long-time friends but rather one which was carried out as per a well-devised plan.According to the police, Sherif had been planning the murder while he was still in Saudi Arabia, as early as six months before the actual crime was committed.They also listed a number of reasons to justify their assumption, including the efforts taken by Sherif to eliminate evidence to cover up the crime.The use of imported plastic bags, in which the body parts of Salim were packed, was the first unusual thing the police noticed, which made them assume that the murder was a pre-planned one. The black coloured high quality plastic bags, for which the police could not find any other use here, were brought from Saudi Arabia.The police did not think of the possibility of a murder when they received the complaint about Salim’s disappearance a few weeks ago.As a procedural step, they traced the signals of the mobile phone used by Salim and found out that the phone just went off under the tower at Korani circle, where Sherif lived. They also traced the last number to which Salim had made a call and found out that the owner of the number had furnished a copy of a fake passport to obtain the number. The police later found out that Sherif obtained the copy of the particular passport while he was in Saudi Arabia.The suspicion of the police grew after they found out that Sherif, who was already under their radar, had employed a labourer to dig an eight-foot-deep trench behind his rented house at Korani within days of his arrival.Salim’s car, which was found at Chathambara near Kallambalam, about 15 km away from his house at Varkala, was also part of the plan.On the day of the crime, Sherif asked Salim to meet him at Chathambara, where the latter arrived in his car.But Sherif, who did not want to leave any evidence behind, took Salim in another car, which had thick dark-tinted windshields, to his house before murdering him by serving alcohol mixed with sleeping pills, the police sources said.The police said that as of now they have not received any circumstantial evidence to establish the involvement of more people in the crime.Meanwhile, Sherif was produced before the Varkala Magistrate court which remanded him to judicial custody.The officers probing the case have said that they would file a custody application before the court for further interrogation of the accused.The mortal remains of Salim were handed over to the family for funeral after an autopsy conducted on Thursday.