Riyadh-based expatriate for murdering his friend

Friday, July 22, 2011: Police on Wednesday arrested a Riyadh-based expatriate for murdering his friend, cutting him into pieces and burying his body parts in his backyard.

Police identified the victim as Saleem, 44, parts of whose body was recovered from the courtyard of his friend Shareef’s rented house at Varkala, some 50 km away from here, Thursday and pieced them together.

Shareef, 41, returned from the Kingdom last month and Saleem three weeks ago. The latter was missing since July 9.

“It seems the two had been doing business together and Shareef owed a big amount of money to Saleem. More details will be available only after questioning him further,” said sub-inspector of police VK Vijayaraghavan. “The murder was meticulously planned at least six months in advance.”

Shareef invited Saleem to his house on the fateful day and offered him a beer added with a heavy dose of sleeping pills. Shareef then killed his friend, cut the body into pieces using a knife that he brought from abroad, put them in polythene bags and buried in the backyard.

He also sent his wife and children to her house saying he wanted to clean up the place and the septic tank. When the family returned the place was clean and nothing suspicious was there.

The police, who recovered the car and cell phone of Saleem from a nearby area, just registered a man missing case. It was also suspected that he was abducted by a gang demanding money but nothing was heard about him since.