KOCHI: The father of a New Delhi youth called for questioning by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Elathur train arson attack case was found dead in a hotel in Kochi on Friday morning.
Muhammad Shafeeq, 46, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Jamia Nagar, South Delhi, was found hanging in the bathroom of room number 9 of Hotel Simran Residency, situated at KP Vallon Road in Kadavanthra.
He had reached Kochi on Tuesday with his son Muhammad Monis, 26, the classmate of accused Shahrukh Saifi who was summoned for interrogation.
The police suspect Shafeeq died by suicide, but said no suicide note was recovered from the room.
An employee with a hotel said they last saw Shafeeq on Thursday night. “Around 6 am on Friday, Monis called us. When we reached the room and opened the bathroom, we found the man hanging from the pipe. We rushed Shafeeq to a nearby hospital where his death was confirmed,” said the hotel employee.
“It is only now that we learnt the duo was here to appear before NIA for interrogation,” he added.
Monis had studied with Saifi and the duo maintained their friendship on social media platforms. NIA had been questioning him for the past two days at its Girinagar office to know whether anyone inspired Saifi online to carry out the April 2 attack that left three persons dead.
According to police officials, Monis claimed his father was depressed ever since NIA summoned him.
“We are conducting a probe,” an officer said. A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Ernakulam South police station. Shafeeq’s body will be handed over to relatives after a postmortem examination. His relatives are learnt to be making arrangements to take the body back to New Delhi.