KOZHIKODE: The police have confirmed that the incident in which the body of a Malappuram native woman was found inside a lodge in the city was a murder. According to the post-mortem report, Fazila was strangled to death. Abdul Sanoof, who was staying with Fazila in the lodge, is yet to be traced. Investigators are also examining the possibility that he may have left the state.

The police have issued a lookout notice for Sanoop. Fazila, 35, and Sanoof had taken a room for three days at a lodge in Eranjipalam at 11 pm on Sunday. The woman's body was found on Tuesday morning. The woman was found dead when the lodge staff checked the room on Tuesday morning. The room was locked from the outside. Employees said Sanoop was at the lodge on Monday. He later left the lodge saying that he wanted to withdraw money.

Later, the police contacted the phone number given by Sanoof while taking the room but found that the number was not working. The car in which he was travelling was found abandoned near a school in Chakkanthara in Palakkad on Tuesday night. Fazila had earlier filed a rape case against Sanoop. It is suspected that this enmity may be the reason for the murder. Fazila has been divorced twice. She met Sanoop while the divorce case was going on.