KASARGOD: The death of expatriate businessman M C Abdul Gafoor Haji (55) of Poochakkad, has turned to be a murder after a year of investigation. Many doubts had already been raised about Gafoor Haji's mysterious death and the disappearance of 596 sovereigns of gold from his house.

The allegations revolved around the occultist Jinnumma alias Shemina in the death. The family and the action committee had complained that this woman was involved in Gafoor Haji's death. Finally, after months of investigation, the police arrested the accused, including Jinnumma, with concrete evidence. The police found that the accused killed Gafoor Haji after stealing all his gold.

Ubais (38), a resident of Melparambu in Kasaragod is the first accused in the case. Ubais's wife and occultist Jinnumma, is the second accused in the case. Asneefa (34) and Ayesha (40) of Vidyanagar, are the third and fourth accused in the case. The police investigation has found that the gang, which had taken the gold on the pretext of witchcraft, put a special cloth on Gafoor Haji's head and then killed him by hitting his head against the wall.

The police had collected the details of the WhatsApp chats between Gafoor Haji and the accused as part of the investigation. It was found that the accused had received Rs 10 lakh and gold ornaments from Gafoor Haji before this. Jinnumma and her gang targets people of high economic status for the fraud. All the information including their family background will be collected first. Later, efforts will be made to inform them about Jinnumma's specialties. The police have received information that many people in Kasaragod have been victims of their fraud.

Jinnumma, the occultist charges Rs 55,000 for the thread with Arabic mantra written on gold-colored paper. In addition to this, she has some other occult practices. All these are done in the middle of the night. At this time, Jinnumma turns Pathutti. She would make people believe that Pathutti is Malayalam-speaking Karnataka woman and that her soul had entered Jinnumma's body. She would suggest remedies and take away the gold and money. Since all the victims of the fraud were well-known in the community, no one would file a complaint. This was the confidence of the accused.