Two more person surrenders in Tamil Nadu atheist murder case
Farooq, was found murdered on the night of March 16, with deep cuts on neck and abdomen.
Published: 20th March 2017 05:00 PM | Last Updated: 21st March 2017 06:05 AM | A+A A-
For representational purpose
COIMBATORE: Two more persons on Monday surrendered in the gruesome murder of a 31-year-old rationalist.
The duo turned themselves in before the Coimbatore Judicial Magistrate-V court, even as police were searching for them as a part of their investigations. City police also arrested two others and filed a petition in the Judicial Magistrate-V court seeking custody of a person, who surrendered before court on Friday.
Last Thursday night, H Farooq (31), a rationalist and a member of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, was stabbed and hacked to death near Ukkadam in the city.
The police were initially in search of four persons, who were allegedly involved in a debate on Whatsapp and Facebook over a status of Farooq that expressed his absence of belief in God. It was said that he had been receiving calls threatening him to stop expressing his lack of faith.
On Monday, Saddam Hussain and Samudeen of Podhanur surrendered separately before the JM V court. This followed the surrender of Arshath, a resident of Podhanur before the Coimbatore JM V on Friday.
So far, investigations revealed that a phone call received by Farooq on Thursday night prompted him to step out of his house. Police investigated the mobile number and found that the number was purchased using the ID and address proof of a daily wage labour in Vellore and that the person had no connection with Farooq.
On Sunday night, police arrested Farooq’s friends Abdul Munaf (28) and Akram Jindha (30) on suspicions of helping the gang to set a trap to kill Farooq.
Though there were unconfirmed reports that fundamentalists killed Farooq as he refused to delete a Whatapp group, in which he expressed his disbelief in God and spread his Atheist ideology, a top police official said, “It is not a particular Whatsapp group that is said to be the reason for the murder.
He had continuously posted photos on Facebook and had some debates in several Whatsapp groups. Abdul Munaf and Akram Jindha are friends of Farooq and we are investigating them.”
