Malayali vlogger's body exhumed for autopsy

Thiruvananthapuram, May 7

After receiving permission from the Kozhikode Revenue Divisional Officer, a team of forensic experts led by the local police on Saturday exhumed the body of Malayali vlogger Rifa Mehnu from a cemetery in a mosque to conduct an autopsy.

The vlogger was found dead on March 1 in Dubai, where she lived with her husband Mehnaz and their two-year-old son.

The 21-year-old Rifa, a social media activist with lakhs of followers on Instagram, appeared regularly on the photo-sharing app along with her husband.

In Rifa's last video posted a day before her body was found, she along with her husband were at a restaurant in Dubai.

On March 1, Mehnaz and a friend found the body.

Later the body was brought from there and was buried in the cemetery at the mosque at Kozhikode.

However, Rifa's parents registered a complaint over their daughter's mysterious death after which the local police in Kasargod booked her husband.

"We now expect to get justice and hope that the autopsy will reveal the cause of her death," said Rifa's mother.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Police are also conducting a probe on the circumstances leading to Rifa's death.

Rifa and Mehnaz met on social media and were married for the past three years.