CBI convicts Mohammed Ali, accused in Shyamal Mandal murder case, verdict pronounced after 17 years

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The court has convicted Mohammed Ali, the first accused and family friend in the Shyamal Mandal murder case. The Thiruvananthapuram CBI court pronounced the verdict after 17 years of committing the murder. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced tomorrow. The case is that Shyamal, a student of College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) and a native of Andaman was abducted and murdered for money by his family friend.

Shyamal's body was found in a sack on October 17 in 2005 at Vellar in Kovalam. The Fort police in their probe found that Shyamal was abducted and killed by his family friend Muhammad Ali and co-accused Durga Jeg Bahadur from Nepal. The findings of the CBI, which took over the investigation, were also similar.

Shyamal's phone records were the turning point in the case. It was Mohammed Ali who called Shyamal to the East Fort. The two abducted Shyamal from here. They later called Shyamal's father Basudev Mandal from his phone and demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh. When Basudev was in Chennai with the money, he heard the news of his son’s death. Soon, the police nabbed Mohammad Ali who was in Andamans. Ali had sold Shyamal's phone at a shop in Chennai.

The police have so far not been able to nab the second accused Durga Jeg Bahadur. The information is that he was a hotel employee. The case was handed over to the CBI on the plea of Basudev filed in the high court in 2008. A look out notice was issued against Durga Jeg Bahadur, but could not be found.

The trial which started in 2020 got stalled due to the pandemic. 56 witnesses were cross-examined in the case. The turning point in the case was the phone of Shyamal sold in a shop in Chennai. Special Public Prosecutor Arun K Antony appeared for the CBI.