Murder: Victims kin doubt police version

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The family of Shahen Sha, the 19-year-old who was stabbed to death the other day, has decided to file a complaint with the Chief Minister and the DGP saying that they do not believe in the police version of the incident. Police had said that the death was following  a dispute relating to the repayment of an amount of ` 100. But the family members do not believe this. For them, Shahen Sha was not someone who would engage in a quarrel with someone over such a trivial issue. “He was not of that kind. We do not believe the police version,” said Ashraf, Shahen Sha’s uncle.  Shahen Sha was stabbed to death allegedly by one Madhu alias Basheer, 44, of Elankathara, Karumom, on Friday night at Karumom, near Nemom. Basheer was arrested the very next day from Karumom by a police team led by Fort Assistant Commissioner M Radhakrishnan Nair. The victim’s kin also have doubts about the police version that Madhu was arrested from the house of his sister at Karumom. “If Madhu was the real culprit, he might have gone to a faraway place, instead of hiding in the very same place,” they said.  The family members also alleged that the police had not recorded the statements of the two friends of Sha who had shifted him to hospital after he was stabbed. According to them, one among them is the son of a police officer at Nemom station. But the police have refuted the allegations, terming them as baseless. “We have taken the statements of all connected with the incident, including Anoop, son of Nemom assistant sub-inspector Raveendran. Shahen Sha, Anoop and some other youngsters were part of a group who used to spend time at Karumom in the evenings for the past few months. Madhu is a balloon vendor and Shahen Sha had borrowed the money from him a few days before the incident. On  way to hospital, he asked his friends not to tell his family members about the incident,” said Radhakrishnan Nair.  Shahen Sha’s father Shahabudheen died five years ago and he his survived by mother Wahida. He had completed plus-two from Model HSS and was waiting for the results.