Kerala Hotel Owner's Body Found Stuffed In 2 Bags, Ex Employee Arrested

Kerala police on Friday found a corpse stuffed in two trolley bags suspected to be that of a missing restaurant owner from Kozhikode district.

Police said the body of Siddique (58) was found in a gorge along the Attappady ghat road and three suspects have been taken into custody.

Malappuram Superintendent of Police S Sujith Das told the media that the hotel owner is suspected to have been murdered by one Shibili, a former employee of his hotel, and Sharfana, a female friend of the accused.

"We suspect that Shibili and his female friend Sharfana are involved in this. They were absconding, but were detained in Chennai with the help of Railway police. Our team has reached there and they will be brought here soon," he said.

Siddique had been missing from Kozhikode since May 18 and his family had lodged a complaint with the police.

The police officer said the information about the body was found from the statement of a third person under custody, who is another friend of Shibili.

"As per our preliminary investigation, the death happened between May 18 and 19. Hence, the body is estimated to be around seven days old. It seems like the murder happened due to some personal issues," police said.

The district police chief said the details of the murder and the motive behind it will be revealed only after the post-mortem and the interrogation of the accused.

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