KOCHI/ KASARGOD: In a loss of face for the CBI, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Ernakulam rejected its ‘final report’ on the death of Chembarika qazi C M Abdulla Maulavi, 77, for the second time, on Friday. Twice the CBI concluded Abdulla Maulavi, a revered Islamic scholar, committed suicide. He was the vice-president of Samastha Kerala Jam’eyyath ul-Ulama (SKJU), the highest authoritative council of Islamic scholars in Kerala.
At the time of his death, he was also the qazi for 140 mahals or neighbourhoods in Kasargod and Mangaluru. The court noted further investigation by the CBI was incomplete. It said, it had directed the CBI to include a suicidologist in the professional body for carrying out a psychological autopsy in 2016. But it was not followed.
Similarly, the psychological autopsy test did not include an interview with the medical team which attended to the deceased qazi. There was also no scientific test carried to substantiate how he travelled from his house to the beach where his body was located.Shaijan C George, the lawyer who represented the qazi’s family in the court, said judge S Bharathi did not accept the second ‘final report’ submitted on January 23, 2017.
“She directed the CBI to conduct further investigation and file a final report after properly complying with the directives given in its order dated February 12, 2016,” he said. In the order, judge K Kamanees had asked the CBI to employ a suicidologist and “definitely” conduct a ‘psychological autopsy’ or a structured interview of the family members and his doctors to find out if Abdulla Maulavi was contemplating suicide.
By the CBI’s own admission in the court, “there is no direct evidence” to show the qazi committed suicide, but it relied on “circumstances and expert opinions” to show it is a suicide. C A Muhammed Shafi, the eldest son of the qazi, who challenged the CBI report in court, said the agency’s second report was preconceived and they were sure the court would reject it.
The family said CBI could never prove Abdulla Maulavi ended his life as the pieces of circumstantial evidence were loaded against the suicide theory.
“Now we want to know why and under whose intervention did the CBI conclude he committed suicide,” said Mohammed Rashid, son of Abdulla Maulavi’s second daughter Hafsath. Maulavi was found dead on the shores of Chembarika -- one km from his house -- on February 15, 2012. The police and later the CBI concluded he climbed the “slippery boulders on the beach and jumped into the sea.” But the family said he was not physically fit to climb the rocks. He did not carry his eyeglasses, without which he would not be able to see, nor did he wear his customary cap and turban.
He did not even wear his inner wears, unusual for a person who had decided to jump into the sea and end his life, said Rashid.
The family, which is on an indefinite satyagraha for the past 36 days in Kasargod, said it would continue its protest and legal fight till the real persons responsible for the qazi’s death were brought to justice.