Dubai, Apr 7 (Emirates247) : The mystery behind the death of a young businessman in his house in Dubai on Friday night has been solved by the police, with the arrest of five people including three women.
Parathi Rahul (39), Indian, died of asphyxiation caused by smoke in his flat near Lulu Village in Muhaisna. He was found dead on a burnt sofa in the house.
Those arrested include two men who were friends of the deceased, two women in the vice trade and their woman manager.
Major General Khamis Mutar Khamis Al Muzainah, Commander in Chief of Dubai Police, confirmed that the fire in which the Keralite businessman was charred to death, was caused by one of the women, following a row with the dead man over the frequent phone calls she received while she was with him.
Following leads from the area’s surveillance camera, police first arrested two men who had entered the house with the dead man.
Though it initially looked like an accidental fire, police said it was arson which caused the businessman’s death by asphyxiation.
After receiving a report of fire on Friday night, police and civil defence rushed to the apartment and prevented the blaze spreading to other apartments.
There were no external marks of any assault on the dead body, which led the police to suspect that the fire was not accidental but deliberate.
The investigating team concluded that the victim entered his apartment in the evening, accompanied by BS and RB, both Indians.
They then called RS and ZA, two women who worked in the vice trade. The two male friends of the deceased and RS later left the place, leaving ZA with the victim, according to Dubai Police.
The victim paid Dh1,000 more than the agreed amount to the woman but he was annoyed by the frequent phone calls ZA received from her male friends. He demanded a refund after which a row ensued. Because he was drunk, he fell on the floor.
The fire started soon after ZA left the apartment at around 10pm, which made the police suspect that the woman had deliberately created a fire in the flat.
The arrested male friends of the deceased admitted to police that the dead person had phoned the women who had agreed to come there for an agreed sum of money.
Investigations showed that the two women were working under another woman called BD and all three were arrested by Hor Al Anz police.
After the two women were arrested, ZA admitted to police to spending time with the dead man for money. She has also admitted to taking a mobile phone, two gold rings, gold bracelets and some money from the deceased’s house. She has confessed to setting some clothes on fire in the apartment. After causing the fire, she found the apartment’s key, locked the door from the outside and fled to BD’s place in Hor Al Anz.
Major General Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, head of Criminal Investigations Department of Dubai Police ,said the presence of CCTV cameras in the corridors of the building helped in arresting the culprit.