Realtor’s disappearance: probe sought against cops involved in initial investigation

Even two years after Kozhikode-based businessman Mohammed Aattoor alias Mami went missing, there has been no major breakthrough, even as fresh allegations have surfaced against a few senior police officers for their alleged sloppiness in the initial phase of the probe.

Mami, a leading realtor, disappeared on August 21, 2023, and the case was first handled by the Nadakkavu police before being transferred to the Crime Branch (CB). The Kerala High Court had earlier dismissed the family’s plea seeking a CBI probe, prompting the formation of a People’s action committee demanding a fair and transparent reinvestigation.

The committee and family members now claim vindication after a department-level investigation report by Assistant Commissioner of Police K.A. Bose (Anti-Narcotics Cell), submitted to North Zone Inspector General Rajpal Meena, found that the police team that initially probed the case failed to gather critical digital and circumstantial evidence, including CCTV footage from locations linked to the disappeared man’s last mobile tower signals. They allege that the officers “purposefully” ignored major leads that indicated a planned abduction and failed to interrogate key persons, such as Mohammed’s driver or verify his call records properly. 

The department-level inquiry ordered after a CB report identified serious lapses by the officers in the initial phase of investigation.  

The CB had interrogated over 200 individuals, many of whom had business or personal links with the realtor. Investigators had also scrutinised a set of 15 suspicious mobile numbers identified through an extensive tower dump analysis of multiple mobile towers in Thalakkulathur village, the location where Mohammed’s two phones were last switched off simultaneously. 

In the wake of the latest department-level investigation findings, the action committee leaders have called for a separate investigation against the first police team that handled the case to expose the reasons behind a “sloppy probe.” They also alleged that there was suspicious involvement of some senior police officers in the incident.