It was the tactical move of Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner Sunil Jacob that forced the accused in the Imitiaz murder case to surrender in Tamil Nadu. The police team had questioned more than 20 quotation gang members before zeroing in on Maradu Aneesh and his gang.
According to police, the major breakthrough happened after the police was intimated by a person, a former gangster, who spotted the car of Imtiaz at Manjumal on the day he was murdered. The police also received tip off from a member of Aneesh’s gang.
“Initially, we traced the phone numbers from which Imitaz received calls during the last two month. Among this, we found that two numbers were taken using fake identity cards from Penta Menaka. We traced the IMEA number and approached the shop, but the owner couldn’t identify the person who purchased it. On further investigation, we found that the mobile phones were present wherever Imitiaz went. On this basis, we found that two bikes followed Imitiaz throughout the day,” police said.
Detailed probe helped the police get a clue of the enmity between gangster Bhai Nazir and Maradu Aneesh.
Imtiaz was an associate of Bhai Nazeer and he had helped the latter run his business in the city. The police also heard about a person Sinoj Joseph.
“Sinoj was attacked by Bhai Nazeer few years ago at his home in Paravoor. He joined Maradu Aneesh’s gang at Tamil Nadu. Sinoj had been planning to kill Bhai Nazeer to avenge the attack. However, Sinoj was killed in a shootout at Dindigul. In a letter to his friend, Anish had said that he would fulfil Sinoj’s wish and kill Bhai Naseer.
It was following this that we confirmed the role of Aneesh. This was just two weeks after the murder took place. The letter is in our possession,” the police official said.
The police identified the person who followed Imitiaz on the day as Ajith and followed him in Secundrabad, Mangalore and Erode. “After Aneesh came to know that the police was following him, he thought it were the Tamil Nadu Crime Branch for a spirit smuggling case. This led to his surrender before a court in Tamil Nadu,” he added. The police are also tracing five other persons involved in the murder.
Move to Mislead Cops
The accused also tried to mislead the police. Aneesh had informed another gangster Vineeth who had enmity with Bhai Nazeer that the latter was at Manjumal area. This was to mislead the police that Vineeth was behind the murder. However, Vineeth and his gang went back to Perumbavoor after waiting for several hours.