National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Thursday conducted searches at the house and mill of an accused in the murder of Hindu Munnani spokesperson C. Sasikumar in Coimbatore. The house and the timber mill belonging to Mohammed Rafikul Hassan were searched by a team headed by NIA Superintendent of Police, Kochi.
Sources privy to the investigation said that Hassan’s house at K.K. Pudur and timber mill on Nallampalayam Road were searched based on warrants issued by the NIA special court at Poonamallee in Chennai. They said that Hassan was a conspirator and facilitator of the murder.
Hassan's house was locked when the NIA team arrived. The investigators said, Hassan had left for the Middle East in November 2016, shortly after the murder of Sasikumar.
The timber mill belonged to the Hassan family and is run by Hassan, his father, Shajahan, and his father-in-law.
Policemen from Coimbatore City and Coimbatore District Police were deployed to guard the search perimeter .
Meanwhile, the accused denied their role in the case through two separate video messages from abroad.
Hassan said that investigators had collected his contact details from his parents and had questioned him over phone some months ago. He said the agency was trying to implicate him by conducting these searches.
Shajahan said that it was a deliberate act to tamper with the family’s reputation.
