In 2014, two people were murdered in Mangaluru, but the city learnt about the crime six days later, as the murderers had transported the bodies to Kerala and buried them in an agricultural field. If it were not for an alert police informant in the Karnataka city, the double murder may have gone unnoticed.
Suspicious movement
On July 6, 2014, Valentine D’Souza, 49, a police inspector at City Crime Branch (CCB) of the Mangaluru police, was in the gym when he got a phone call from one of his informants about suspicious movements in the Attavara area.
Retired police officer Valentine D’Souza (Photo Credit: Special Arrangement)
“I have spent most of my career in the coastal region. Given the sensitive nature of the area, we (police officers) had a wide network of informants… An informant told me over the phone that some people from Kerala had rented a two-bedroom flat. Interestingly, they used to keep the lights switched on throughout the night. During the daytime, the occupants of the flat hardly stepped out, or even if they did, they would always use a Renault Duster car to travel. Their behaviour aroused suspicion,” the retired police officer said.
Armed with information, D’Souza decided to visit the flat. He also asked his team to keep an eye on the vehicle.
Car intercepted
D’Souza’s team intercepted the vehicle at the Mahakalipadpu railway crossing. While questioning the three men who were travelling in the car, the police noticed blood stains on the boot carpet and a foul smell. The three men and the vehicle were taken to the police station, and a forensic team was called.
Around the same time, a team was sent to the flat where they discovered blood stains on beds, walls, bed sheets, and a cut-up mattress. Soon after, during the interrogation, the three men – Mohammed Mahajeer Sanaf, 28, Mohammed Irshad, 27, and A Mohammed Safwan, 27, all residents of Kasaragod town in Kerala – confessed to the crime.
Gold smuggling
The police found out that the three men had murdered two people and buried their bodies in an agricultural land in Maruthadukkam in neighbouring Kerala, 76 km from Mangaluru. A police team headed to Kerala, and the bodies were exhumed in the presence of the local police, forensic team, and other officials. The victims were identified as Nafir Ahmed, 24, a resident of Thalaserry, and Faheem, 25, a resident of Kozhikode in Kerala.
According to the confession, Nafir had smuggled 3 kg of gold from Dubai to Mangaluru in June 2014. He sought his friend Faheem’s help to sell it. Faheem, who ran a readymade garment business, asked Sanaf, who was another friend of his, to help them sell the booty.
“Sanaf’s father is a famous lawyer in Kasaragod, and he himself was a law student but dropped out of college. Sanaf tapped Irshad and Safwan. They formed a team and started selling the gold in Mangaluru and Kasargod. They managed to sell about 2.5 kg of gold for Rs 73 lakh, but did not give Nafir his share. When Nafir insisted on the money, Sanaf and his team decided to kill him,” D’Souza said.
The plan
In June 2014, Sanaf rented the 2BHK flat in Attavara, and Safwan purchased a 10-cent agricultural land near Kasargod from the proceeds of selling the smuggled gold. On July 1, Nafir and Faheem were asked to come to the rented flat to collect their share. After they arrived, the trio, including Irshad, stabbed them to death. In the early hours of July 3, they packed the bodies in plastic gunny bags and transported them to Kasargod.
D’Souza said, “They cut the bodies into 9-10 pieces and buried them in a rainwater harvesting pit in the agricultural land that Safwan had bought. The stained mattress was also cut into pieces so that it could be dumped into the river in multiple rounds. The three men came back to Mangaluru and were staying at the flat because there were a lot of blood-stained pillows and marks on the wall. They wanted to clear all evidence before leaving for Kerala.”
Conviction
On July 7, 2014, then Mangaluru police commissioner Hithendra held a press meet and announced the arrest of the three men.
The police filed the chargesheet against Sanaf, Irshad, and Safwan under Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code. In March and April 2015, all three accused walked out on bail.
On April 7, 2025, the first additional district and sessions court of Dakshina Kannada convicted all three accused with imprisonment for life.
In the order, Judge Mallikarjuna Swamy H S said, “The circumstances relied upon by the prosecution are proved by cogent and reliable evidence. The circumstances cumulatively taken form a complete chain pointing out that twin murders were committed by the accused and none else.”
D’Souza, now 61, who retired as a deputy superintendent of police, said that just one phone call exposed the crime. “Had they succeeded in destroying all evidence and left for Kerala, I think the crime would have remained buried,” he added.
The three convicts in the Mangaluru double murder case. (Photo Credit: Special Arrangement) 
Retired police officer Valentine D’Souza (Photo Credit: Special Arrangement)
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