In the murder of 24-year old Abdul Shakur, a Kerala-based businessman who was tortured to death by his colleagues to get the password for Bitcoin (crypto-currency) account, Dehradun police have arrested three more accused. It was revealed during the investigation that several people in Kerala had invested in the crypto currency business through Shakur’s company, but after the loss of crores in the business, Abdul and his associates had to flee. It was also found that Shakur had another company for the same business based in Thailand and was planning to return the money of all the investors in September.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arun Mohan Joshi said that the three accused arrested on Tuesday have been identified as Mohammad Arshad, Shihab and Munif. They are all natives of Kerala.
According to the police, they were planning to surrender in court and were arrested near Suddhowala on Manduwala Road. During initial interrogation, the accused told the police that the three of them, along with accused Ashiq and victim Shakur, reached Dehradun on the night of August 12.
On August 23, other five friends of Ashiq reached at the room they had rented with the help of Ashiq’s friend, Yasin.
Soon after that, Ashiq told them that though Shakur’s company is under loss, he still has Bitcoins worth of hundred crores. All they had to do was recover the password from him.
On August 28, Shakur’s health deteriorated. So, first of all, they took him to a private hospital at Ballupur Canal Road, where the doctors denied admitting him in the hospital. Then, they took him to a private hospital at New Mussoorie Road, where the doctors declared him dead.
After hearing that, they all got scared and left Shakur and the car they were travelling in there at the hospital.
They took different taxis and reached Mussoorie, where they stopped for two-three hours. After that, they took bus till ISBT from where all three of them, along with Ashiq, went to Himachal.
From Himachal they took different routes and reached Kerala, but upon learning repeated attempts of Uttarakhand Police at their homes for arresting them, they got scared.
On their parent’s insistence and advice from their advocates, they were planning to surrender in court. They said that as there are many Kerala-based students studying in Dehradun, it was not difficult for them to find shelter for a night.