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Slain businessman allegedly betrayed by trusted friend to cover up missing millions
Guardians of law caught in murder dragnet | Body dumped in notorious Dompe ‘killing field’
The police, the guardians of the law, are under investigation by their own officers over the murder of a Colombo businessman. After the arrest of a Sub Inspector and three police constables the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) summoned Vass Gunawardena, Deputy Inspector General of Police Western Province (North), to their headquarters and recorded a statement for five hours.
The victim: Mohamed Shiyam
CID sources said he was questioned on matters related to the murder of businessman Mohamed Shiyam, 35. The police officer and the three constables are staff of DIG Gunawardena’s office. An intense investigation into the murder was first carried out by the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) after President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a directive days prior to his departure to China. He asked that the report of the probe be made available on his return.
Thereafter, the CID took over the investigation. Shiyam disappeared on May 22 and his body was found in Dompe on the following day but it took more than a week before his family learned that he had been killed. The man allegedly responsible for the murder made the first complainant at the Bambalapitiya police, saying his “friend” had gone missing. They had spent the last few hours together before Shiyam disappeared.
“Our family members tried to contact Shiyam on that night (May 22), but when all our efforts failed we became worried and went out looking for him until the early hours of the following day,” Shiyam’s father, Huzam Deen, told the Sunday Times. The day after the disappearance, one of the first to visit the family home was Shiyam’s friend, M. Fouzdeen, who appeared to be upset by the disappearance and said he was making all efforts to trace him.
“Shiyam’s friend was weeping and trying to console the family members that they should not worry. He said that Shiyam might be safe somewhere,” Mr Deen said. As relatives continued the search, one of them called President Rajapaksa and appealed for help. The President gave an assurance that he would look into the matter.
CCTV footage showing the suspect (left) entering the victim’s factory
The CCD, which had been directed to carry out the investigations, recorded a statement from Fouzdeen – among several others – as there was evidence that both Shiyam and Fouzdeen had visited the shoe factory owned by Shiyam in Dehiwala. CCTV footage from the factory premises revealed that Shiyam and Fouzdeen had visited the factory on two occasions on that particular day.
Fouzdeen told the investigators that he had accompanied Shiyam to a location in Nugegoda, where they had gone to purchase an expensive watch, as Shiyam had had a liking for different models of watches. He claimed they had later returned to their respective homes. During the probe, investigators asked members of Shiyam’s family whether they had any doubts about Fouzdeen but the family asserted that he had been known to them for the past eight years.
During the last school holidays it was Fouzdeen who had been asked to take care of the business handled by Shiyam. Shiyam’s body was recovered the day after his disappearance but it was not until a week later, when the prime suspect had confessed to the killing, that the family was informed. The body was found in a lonely location known as Meepawala in the Dompe area of the Gampaha district. The bodies of other individuals killed under mysterious circumstances in the past have also been found dumped in the area.
Dompe police recovered the body after being alerted by passers-by, but it bore no means of identification. Magistrate for Pugoda and Additional District Judge Thilakaratna Bandara visited the scene and the body was dispatched to Gampaha hospital mortuary pending identification.
Family members continued their search for Shiyam.
The CCD recovered Shiyam’s vehicle which had been found abandoned in Nugegoda. Officers retraced the route that Shiyam and his friend had reportedly travelled to purchase the watch. With no breakthrough yet, investigators went through CCTV footage from police CCTV cameras stationed on main roads. They went through as many as 2000 vehicle numbers captured by the cameras, but without gaining any clues.
Police then decided to seek public assistance and collected CCTV footage from private residents on the route Shiyam and Fouzdeen had reportedly travelled.
The breakthrough came when footage from one camera located in the Nugegoda Police Division showed Shiyam getting into a double cab vehicle which had been parked on the side of the road, and the vehicle taking off. In the next sequence, Fouzdeen is seen running towards the vehicle left by Shiyam and parking it at the side of the road.
Fouzdeen is also seen telephoning a person and thereafter seen leaving in a vehicle that arrives at the scene of the abduction a few minutes later.
Fouzdeen was arrested on May 28. At first, he denied his involvement in the abduction and subsequent murder. But on the following day, when he was shown the CCTV footage and asked about his presence in the filmed events, he admitted that Shiyam had been abducted and murdered on his instructions.
Acting on information given by Fouzdeen, police informed Shiyam’s family that the body at Gampaha hospital was that of the missing businessman. Shocked relatives subsequently identified the body. Shiyam was reported to be possession of Rs. 500,000 cash and was wearing a Rolex wrist watch worth over Rs. 2 million. Both the money and the watch had been reportedly taken by the abductors.
The lonely spot where the body was found. Pic by Upali Ranaweera
On further questioning, a hardcore criminal with links to the police was arrested.
The arrest of the other policemen followed. Investigations are underway to ascertain whether the policemen were involved in assisting to abduct the businessman and provide an escort for the hitman.
The motive of the killing is being investigated, but the family members believe that Fouzdeen, who had borrowed over Rs. 500 million from various businesspeople and was unable to pay back the money, wanted to murder his friend and tell them he had lost the money as he had purportedly invested it with Shiyam.
Fouzdeen had not invested money in Shiyam’s business but had occasionally advanced him money to clear certain consignments. Mr Deen said the family had not expected events to turn out like this. “Fouzdeen was very close to the family and even visited me. He was so close that I treated him like my son,” he said.
The CCD Director SSP D.R.L. Ranaweera led the investigations, with IP Premathilaka and PCs Jayaneththi, Pushpakumara and Priyantha assisting.
The CCD declined to comment on the incident.
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