MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has transferred the investigation into the murder of a suspect in a gold smuggling case to the CB-CID, after the victim’s mother filed a petition alleging that Ramanathapuram police were not conducting a proper probe.
According to prosecution, Syed Abdullah was abducted from his relatives’ house by a gang on May 16, 2025 under the impression that he had tipped off customs officials leading to the seizure of Rs 5-crore worth gold smuggled by them in Thoothukudi in 2023.
Abdullah was also one of the accused in the case registered by Thoothukudi Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in this regard. Based on a complaint lodged by his wife, a case of abduction was registered by Kenikkarai police.
The next morning, Abdullah’s brother received a call which stated that he was in a critical condition, but later the number could not be reached. Abdullah was found dead near a beach within Thiruppullani police station limits the same day. Kenikkarai police arrested five persons and seized the vehicles involved.
Abdullah’s mother Seeni Fathima moved the high court seeking to transfer the probe citing that though one of the five suspects is a co-accused of Abdullah in the smuggling case and despite her specific allegation that Abdullah was pressured by the gold smugglers to settle the amount, Kenikkarai police did not conduct any investigation.
They have also not arrested the remaining six accused, she added.
Justice B Pugalendhi noted that the police failed to investigate the cause of death of the deceased and have not collected any material regarding the DRI case.
Holding that the investigation has not been conducted in a proper manner, he transferred the case to Ramanathapuram CB-CID, adding that the latter should probe based on the DRI case.