Five convicted in 2016 Mankada moral policing murder, sentencing on Friday

Kozhikode: Manjeri additional district and sessions court (1) found five accused guilty in Mankada moral policing murder case involving the death of Nazeer Hussain, 42, in 2016.The court convicted the first five accused, Nayakath Abdul Naser, 41, his brother Sharafudheen, 34, Pattikkuth Suhail, 35, Pattikkuth Abdul Ghafoor, 53, and Pattikkuth Zakkeer Hussain, 44, all natives of Koottil near Mankada. Judge M Thushar will pronounce the sentence on Friday. Accused six to eight, Chennekkunnan Shafeeq, 35, Mukkilpeedika Parambath Mansoor, 35, and Ambalappally Abdul Naser, 36, were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The incident occurred around 3.30am on June 28, 2016. Hussain was beaten to death with sticks and wooden planks for visiting the house of a woman in the locality. According to the complaint, the accused broke open the door and assaulted him brutally following which he became unconscious and later died. Out of 70 witnesses in the case, 39 were examined by the prosecution. A total of 123 documents and 22 material exhibits were produced. The investigation was conducted by then Perinthalmanna circle inspectors A M Sidheeq and Saju K Abraham. The trial began on Oct 24, 2024. Special public prosecutor P G Mathew appeared for the prosecution. The mobile phone seized from the first accused in which he had recorded video footage showing the brutal assault on Hussain, proved crucial in the case. Though the accused deleted the footage, the 1.3-minute video was recovered from the memory card during the examination conducted at the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.