A friend, a new SIM, a knife on balcony: how cops tracked down Jisha's killer

Kochi: The Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate court on Saturday granted permission to conduct an identification parade of accused, Ameerul Islam, in the rape and murder case of a 30-year-old Dalit law student in Kerala on April 28.

The culprit was arrested on Thursday after 50 gruelling days of social uproar, political upheavals and major shake-up in the police department. Islam, 23, a migrant worker hailing from Assam and known to the victim for some time, was taken into custody from Kancheepuram after a detailed interrogation.

Islam has been remanded in judicial custody till June 30 by the Perumbavur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court.

Bengali friend helped cops nab culprit

The police who nabbed Ameerul Islam were helped by his Bengali friend, Jinjal, in identifying him while he was working at a company in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. Jinjal was among those questioned by the cops about the migrant labourers gone missing from the region post the murder of Jisha on April 28.

“Among a few others, he told us the case of Ameerul. However, by that time, the accused’s mobile phone was switched off. Our team even went to his house in Dholda Gramam of Assam and learned that he had left the place after a seven-day stay,” sources said.

Ameerul, who reached Kancheepuram early this month, got a temporary job at an electronics company on June 9. He inserted a new SIM in his old mobile phone and the cyber cell soon tracked him to the Tamil Nadu border town. However, the cops did not have his photo or any other means to identify him.

A four-member police team took Jinjal along with them to Kancheepuram and began to search for Ameerul. Their attempts bore no fruit for the first three days but Jinjal identified his friend from a group of workers coming out of the factory after their evening shift on June 13. Though Ameerul resisted, the cops  overpowered him and took him into custody.

Meanwhile, it was a local person who helped the cops in recovering the weapon used by the accused for the crime.  They were alerted by Arun Prashob, DYFI Perumbavur block secretary.

“When the election results came on May 19, we celebrated atop a building next to the lodge where the cops said Ameerul was staying for the last five months. Then I saw a knife at the balcony veranda of the adjacent three-storey lodge but didn’t realise its importance. After the news broke out of his arrest and other details, it struck me the knife must be that weapon and immediately alerted the police,” he said.

Lodge owner Kadappadam George said he was not aware of Ameerul staying there and that he had originally extended rental accommodation to 19 Bengalis.