New Delhi: A double murder case that has intrigued the state since 1993 had its sole accused acquitted by the Kerala High Court on Monday.
VV Hamsa, the only man prosecuted in the Chekannur Moulavi murder case, was acquitted after the High Court set aside a 2010 order by the CBI court which convicted and handed him two life terms which were to run concurrently.
The High Court also dismissed appeals filed by both the Central Bureau of Investigation and Moulavi’s uncle.
In 2010, CBI special judge S Vijayakumar had convicted Hamsa of murdering Chekannur PK Mohammed Abdul Hassan Moulavi, a Malappuram-based Islamic scholar.
The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed the CBI court’s punishment for offences punishable under Sections 302 (murder), 120 B (Conspiracy), 364 (abduction) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Moulavi was last seen on July 29, 1993 when, according to his wife Howah Umma, he left his home to deliver a speech with two unidentified people in a vehicle that did not have a number plate.
Following a complaint by his wife and uncle Salim Haji, an investigation, which also drew considerable public attention, was launched, leading to a reward of Rs 3 lakh being offered by police for any information related to the case.
The CBI took over the case in 1996, and in 2000, arrested two members of an ultra-orthodox Muslim sect, which is linked to Kanchipuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar, under suspicion of murder. By 2005, 10 people were accused of the murder.
The case was hampered by the disappearance of a number of witnesses, whose properties were seized, after they fled abroad rather than testify in 2008.
Moulavi’s wife had then filed a petition seeking to arraign Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar as a murder suspect through her lawyer, advocate SK Premraj, which was allowed.
The Kerala High Court set aside the order, which was challenged in the Supreme Court.
Comments
0 comment