MANGALURU: Kasaragod police on Thursday arrested a man accused of murdering a jewellery store employee in Mangaluru a month ago. The arrested person has been identified as Shifas P P (33), a native of Thuvakkode near Koyilandy in Kozhikode district.
On February 3, a man wearing a mask and hat entered Mangaluru Jewellers near Balmatta and stabbed to death, Raghavendra Acharya (52), when the owner Keshava Acharya stepped out for lunch.
According to the CCTV recording, the suspect spent around 30 minutes in the store before leaving with the jewellery. Mangaluru City Police had made the CCTV footage of the suspect public.
Kasaragod District Crime Records Bureau Deputy Superintendent of police Abdul Rahim C A said Shifas was picked up on suspicion of being a drug peddler. "But we found that he was wanted for a murder," said Rahim.
Shifas came from Kozhikode on a train and took an autorickshaw to the Mallikarjuna Temple near KSRTC bus depot on Thursday. As soon as he got out of the autorickshaw around 2 pm, beat police officer picked him up.
At the station, he claimed he was a coconut trader. But the police found an air pistol, wig and pepper spray on him.
When the police ran a background check, they realised he was wanted in a murder case. "We have handed him over to the Mangaluru city police commissioner," said Rahim.
Mangaluru police said that multiple teams were made to check CCTV footage, analyse the tower dump data and check various lodges and hotels, also to check on suspects with the same modus operandi. "Suspect's movement was traced to Kasargod with the help of CCTV camera footage.
The CCTV camera footage of the suspect was widely published throughout Karnataka and Kerala. On Thursday, following a tip-off regarding the suspect and in a joint operation with Kasargod district police, the suspect was secured in Kasargod.
After a detailed enquiry, the suspect eventually confessed to the crime. The accused has committed murder with intention of robbery. He had gone back to his native place Kozhikode and was absconding since then. On Thursday, he came to Kasargod with the same intention as he was found to be wearing multiple layers of clothes when secured.
He used to work with SNN GIOBEL and earlier he was working in Dubai from 2014 to 2019. He had got admission for BE diploma in mechanical engineering from Karavali college at Managluru but left mid-way after 2 years. His 2 brothers are in Dubai and he stays in Calicut with his father, mother, wife and daughter.