The three accused, arrested in the sensational ‘human sacrifices’ case in Kerala for killing two women, were on Thursday sent to 12-days police custody. The court granted 12 days custody to police as sought by it for collecting evidence and further investigation into the horrific crime.
The court had on Wednesday remanded the prime accused Shafi (52), Bhagaval Singh (68), a massage therapist and his wife Laila (59) to 14-day judicial custody.
While the investigation revealed shocking details about the incident, in which the two women were ‘sacrificed’ as part of an alleged black magic ritual to gain ‘wealth and prosperity’ with the accused going to the extent of eating the human flesh, the police today revealed how they tracked the three accused.
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Speaking to reporters, Kochi City Police Commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam said that Shafi is a history-sheeter which as many as a dozen cases registered against him over the past 15 years. He said the investigating team’s first clue was a CCTV footage dated September 26, in which a woman named Padma was seen sitting in a car with the man identified as Shafi, reported News18.
The probe to trace Padma, who went on the same day, led the police come to know about the killing of another victim, Roslin, who had gone missing in June this year.
“All we had was a CCTV visual of a lady getting into a car with Shafi. Nothing else. A police team took the scientific route, traced them to the house at Elanthoor, questioned the couple and the whole incident unfolded," Nagaraju said.
The footage led the cops to Bhagaval and Laila’s house in Pattanamthitta district. On October 9, the police recovered another footage from their immediate neighbour’s CCTV camera that showed the same car and Padma entering the house.
The chopped body parts of the deceased were exhumed from the premises of the couple's house at Elanthoor village in Pathanamthitta on October 11.
On September 26, Shafi approached 52-year-old Padma, who used to sell lottery tickets at Kochi and lured her by offering Rs 15,000 for sex work, the police remand report read.
"Then she agreed and went with Shafi to the home of Bhagaval Singh and Laila in the Pathanamthitta district. There, the accused strangled her with a plastic cord around her neck to make her unconscious. After that, Shafi mutilated Padma’s private parts using a knife and slit her throat. After that, they chopped her into 56 pieces and put the mutilated body parts into buckets and buried them in a pit," the remand report detailed.
Police said that it is investigating the possibility of cannibalism that the accused possibly ate the flesh of the victims. Kochi Police Commissioner CH Nagraju addressing a press conference told reporters that Shafi, the main accused, was a pervert and has a criminal past.
