The police cracked the case after Shaibin Ashraf and his henchmen staged a suicide drama in front of the state Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
Published Mar 20, 2025 | 2:56 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 20, 2025 | 2:56 PM
Shaibin Ashraf, Ponnakkaran Shihabudeen and Nishad.
Synopsis: The traditional healer, Saba Sharif, was kidnapped from his Vijayapura residence, and held captive for more than a year before torturing him to death in 2020. The body was cut into pieces and thrown into the Chaliyar River.
In a rare verdict, the Additional District and Sessions Court in Malappuram’s Manjeri has convicted three men for murdering a traditional medicine practitioner, although the victim’s body was never found.
The court, which held industrialist Shaibin Ashraf (37) of Mukkatta in Nilambur, his manager Ponnakkaran Shihabudeen (39) of Sulthan Bethery in Wayanad, and Nishad (32) guilty, would pronounce the quantum of sentence on Saturday, 22 March.
While holding the trio guilty, the court acquitted nine others on Thursday, 20 March.
The case dates back to 1 August 2019 when traditional healer Saba Sharif was kidnapped from his Vijayanagar, Mysuru residence. However, the man remained missing till 29 August 2022, when three men staged a suicide drama in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
The police intervened and prevented the men from self-immolating but stumbled upon a robbery complaint made on 24 August. Ashraf had then complained that six men had robbed him of ₹7 lakh at his residence.
Further investigation revealed that the suicide bid was a drama played out by three of the robbery suspects. On interrogation, the men led the police to the kidnap and gruesome murder of 60-year-old Sharif. The men also claimed that their lives were at stake.
The men also handed over to investigators a pen drive, which contained the visuals of Sharif being held captive at Ashraf’s Nilambur residence.
Though Ashraf refuted the claims of the men, it was later revealed that Sharif was tortured to death, and his body was cut into pieces reportedly using a chainsaw and a butcher’s knife, and tossed into the River Chaliyar from the Seethi Haji Bridge at Edavanna.
Meanwhile, Sharif’s family had complained to the Saraswathipura police in Mysuru saying he had been missing since August 2019.
Interrogation of the men revealed that he was kidnapped for a non-existent panacea for piles, and murdered a year later on 8 October 2020.
Despite the absence of a corpse, forensic evidence, including DNA traces from Ashraf’s car, played a crucial role in the conviction.
It’s said this is the first time in Kerala’s legal history that a murder case has been successfully prosecuted without recovering the victim’s body.
The case, which began trial in February 2023, underscores the Kerala Police’s investigative efforts to secure a conviction based on circumstantial and forensic evidence.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
