Yumnu’s fall: Raudh remanded in custody for five days

Raudh Ahmed Zilal, 21, G. Eriyadhoo, who was with the young woman who fell from the ninth floor of a Male’ house, has been remanded in custody by Criminal Court for five days.

21-year-old Mariyam Yumnu was found injured on the rooftop of a warehouse in the Henveiru district at around 07:23 am on Friday, April 18. According to the police, their investigation uncovered that she fell from a skylight on the ninth-floor stairwell of the adjacent building, H. Fentenoy, but that there was no evidence of foul play.

But before Yumnu went to Fenetoy, the group of nine were at Ma. Maandhooge Dhekunuge for a party, possibly with drugs and alcohol.

They are:

• Raudh Ahmed Zilal, 21
• Izdhiyaan Mohamed Maumoon, 28
• Aishath Layaaly Iqbal, 22
• Yoosuf Ahmed Akram, 22
• Yoosuf Yassar Abdul Ghafoor, 28
• Aminath Junaina Jamsheed, 24
• Hussain Hamees Ali, 28
• Ijaz Jaiz, 24

CCTV footage shows four of them, including Yumnu and Raudh, leaving the house at around 03:40am and going to a house located in front of STELCO in Ameenee Magu at around 04:00am. They are seen exiting the second house around 10 minutes later. Yumnu and Raudh, the former of whom was barefoot, were then seen at around 04:15am entering H. Fentenoy, a nearby building located in Buruzu Magu, from where she fell.

While Raudh, who was with Yumnu at Fentenoy when she fell, was arrested under a court order at 18:20pm on Thursday evening, there is a travel ban order against all individuals who were at the party.

The Police, on Friday, said the Criminal Court has remanded Raudh in custody for five days on Friday.

The Police said they have searched the terrace as well as the second and fourth floors of Maandhooge, where the party took place, along with the third floor of Kashivelige, which is the second in question.

Ameen has admitted that two of his nephews were among the group of individuals involved, but denied he knew anything about the “gathering”, which took place at the house he jointly owns with his siblings.

Out of the two, Izdhiyaan, who had been serving as the Undersecretary for Strategic Communications at the President’s Office, was dismissed on Thursday.

Raudh is the younger brother of Daudh Ahmed, the undersecretary for digital strategy at the President’s Office. He was suspended without pay after photos and videos emerged purportedly showing him using narcotics.

Until Thursday, the Police had declined to identify anyone other than the victim. 

They also made no arrests, and their search had been limited to Fentenoy, and not the other two houses.

This has led to public suspicion, with claims that there may be attempts to influence the case.

According to police, Raudh and Yumnu had tried to enter the terrace of the Fentenoy, which was locked. They were then seen on CCTV getting intimate in the stairwell. Raudh is also seen taking off his t-shirt at some point and giving it to Yumnu to wear.

Police said that camera footage later appears to show them looking for each other.

However, the police said that there weren’t any cameras on the ninth floor – from where the Yumnu fell. One of the clips screened by police shows Raudh on the stairs on the eighth floor at around 04:25am – which is the moment the police believe she fell.

He was seen searching for Yumnu throughout the building, including the outside through a skylight. He entered and exited the building multiple times, looking both inside the building and outside in the street, before he left around 20 minutes later.

Responding to speculation that Yumnu wouldn’t have landed where she did if she had fallen from the skylight, Shujau said that investigators had established that the spot where she was found is consistent with where a person would fall if they fell from the ninth-floor skylight.

Yumnu sustained serious injuries in the fall. She was initially treated on a ventilator but was later reported to be breathing on her own. However, her condition remains serious and she is being treated in the ICU of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

Mounting public anger over the case prompted a large crowd of protesters, the vast majority of them young men and women, to gather outside the Sergeant Adam Haleem Criminal Investigation Building in Male’ on Wednesday and Thursday nights, demanding justice for the young woman