The ten-day-old dead body of Mohammed Shanib (28), a native of Mannarkkad, Palakkad, Kerala, has been found in the forests of Pulwama under mysterious circumstances. A big question remains: why did he go to Pulwama? Reports suggest that Mohammed was in Bengaluru. No one knows why he went to Kashmir. It is highly unlikely for a man living in Bengaluru to go to Kashmir without any rhyme or reason!
On 6 May, the police reportedly asked the family members of Mohammed Shanib to come to Pulwama. He was an electrician. That night, they received news of his death from Gulmarg Police Station in Kashmir.
The family told the local police that he had left home on April 13, stating that he had secured a job in Bengaluru. He had reportedly visited his sister in Bengaluru, but the family had not heard from him for the past three weeks, and he had stopped responding to their phone calls.
The recent Pahalgam terror attack has once again raised questions about sleeper networks and covert recruitment pipelines. In such a charged environment, the presence of a dead Keralite in Gulmarg without any clear reason for his travel—raises eyebrows and demands a deeper investigation into whether Shanib’s death was a standalone case or part of a larger, concealed web.
While there are no confirmed terror links to Mohammed Shanib, the fact that he hails from Kerala adds to a growing list of disturbing cases tied to radicalisation in the state. Kerala has previously seen youth drawn into extremist ideologies, including affiliations with ISIS, members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), and more recently, vocal support for Hamas from certain fringe elements.
The matter assumes added significance in the wake of the Pahalgam killings and subsequent developments such as Operation Sindoor.
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