KOCHI: The Uttar Pradesh-native who is accused of attempting to burgle an ATM at Vazhakkala here other day and of murdering the co-accused later, confessed to the police on Thursday that he committed the murder fearing that the victim would reveal the matter to the police.
The accused, Ahammed Munsulin Ansari, 35, had entered the ATM kiosk along with Imran, 32, and attempted burglary. Later, when CCTV visuals of the duo were published, Ansari feared that Imran might tell the police about their attempted robbery. So, he decided to get rid of Imran by murdering him. The accused also told the police that they had planned the ATM robbery to start hotel business.
It was in the wee hours of August 6 that the duo attempted to burgle the ATM of Syndicate Bank at Vazhakkala.
Ansari was arrested by the police on Wednesday based on the CCTV footage received from the ATM. During the investigation, Ansari confessed to have murdered West Bengal-native Imran who assisted him in the robbery attempt. In a search that followed, the police recovered the dead body of Imran from the lodge at Kunnumpuram where the duo had been staying.
Ansari in his statement said they had attempted to loot seven other ATMs in Ernakulam, but did not get money.
The duo had also attempted to burgle ATMs at Aluva, Kalamassery, Vazhakkala, High Court Junction, Palarivattom, Kakkanad and Padamugal. They had bought a gas cutter from Coimbatore for the purpose.
Ansari, who came to Ernakulam five years ago to do welding job, befriended Imran one year ago when the latter was working at a juice shop at Palarivattom.
According to the postmortem report, the death of Imran was caused by a deep stab injury he sustained on the stomach. After the murder, Ansari cut the body into pieces and packed it in two sacks. He was planning to dump the body on Wednesday night.