Kerala ‘human sacrifice’ case: Kin of more missing women reach out to police
Shafi (52) and a therapist couple — Bhagaval Singh (68) and his wife Laila (59) — were arrested from the district on October 11 in connection with the murder of two women at Elanthoor village in the Kerala district as part of “ritualistic human sacrifice for financial prosperity”, police have said.
As probe into the alleged human sacrifice case in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district continued, relatives of more missing women have approached the police fearing main accused Mohammad Shafi alias Rasheed might have been behind their disappearances, officials familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Shafi (52) and a therapist couple — Bhagaval Singh (68) and his wife Laila (59) — were arrested from the district on October 11 in connection with the murder of two women at Elanthoor village in the district as part of “ritualistic human sacrifice for financial prosperity”, police have said.
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Relatives of Bindhu Padmanabhan, who reportedly has been missing from Alappuzha district since 2013, approached the Kerala police crime branch, claiming she was seen with a person who resembled Shafi days before her disappearance.
“We will question Shafi. But we haven’t got anything concrete to connect Shafi with the missing case,” said deputy superintendent of police (crime branch) R Suresh. “Some of her relatives told us that she was seen in the company of a person resembling Shafi.”
The special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged human sacrifice of 49-year-old Roselin and 52-year-old Padma, both lottery ticket vendors in Kochi, said Shafi was a hard nut to crack and used all opportunities to mislead the probe.
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While the victims in the Elanthoor twin murder were poor women, 46-year-old Bindhu Padmanabhan owned property worth crores of rupees and was staying alone at Kadakarapally in Alappuzha district, her relatives told the police.
Though a missing case was registered in 2013, it failed to make much headway. However in 2017, her brother Praveen Padmanabhan filed a fresh complaint alleging her property was seized using forged papers. Later, a property dealer M Sebastain and his accomplice T Mini were arrested while another accomplice S Manoj reportedly died by suicide after the crime branch summoned him for questioning.
Relatives of another middle-aged woman Sarojini K, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2014 barely a few km from the house of the accused couple in the alleged human sacrifice case in Elanthoor, also sought a fresh investigation into her death. The body of 58-year-old Sarojini, a domestic help, was found stuffed in a gunny bag. The woman’s relatives have claimed that her body had 27 wound marks and one of her hands was missing. They have also claimed that her post-mortem examination report suggested that she died of bleeding.
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“The body was found washed and some flowers were also found in the bag,” said one of her relatives, requesting anonymity, and added that the police closed the case same year after they “failed to get any leads”.
The Kerala police have decided to re-open all cases pertaining to missing complaints of women in Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta districts in the last five years. A senior police officer said 12 such cases were reported from Pathanamthitta and 14 from Ernakulam in the past five years.
Meanwhile, a lottery vendor has told the SIT that a while back, Shafi had established friendship with her by buying all her lottery tickets and he used to give her small amount of money from time to time. Last year, he told her that he knew a couple who were scouting for a massage helper and took her to the house in Elanthoor, a police officer said, without disclosing the identity of the woman.
“She said she slipped out of the house somehow after she saw sharp-edged sword and knives in the massage room and suspicious behaviour of the three,” the officer added.
Another woman from Cherthala has also narrated a similar story to the police. Earlier, the SIT had asked women with any information about the accused to approach the nearest police station.
The SIT has also started probe into reports that Shafi had worked as a part-time helper with a post-mortem unit in a government hospital in central Kerala. Doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination of the two women told the SIT that the human flesh was cut with a clinical precision. The SIT also found that Shafi, whom it declared as a psychopath and sexual pervert, had also worked as a butcher on the outskirts of Kochi.
“He is a hard nut to crack and uses all opportunities to mislead the probe team. A serial offender he had done all sorts of job from truck driver, butcher, peon, real estate agent to name a few,” said a senior SIT officer. “He has got an uncanny knack to lure and mislead people.”
On Saturday, the SIT recovered knives, swords and books related to black magic and sorcery from the house of the accused couple in Elanthoor.
“Seized articles include four machetes, sword, two wooden logs, a pressure cooker allegedly used for cooking human flesh, and plastic ropes,” said an SIT officer, requesting anonymity. “Forensic officials also spotted blood stains in the fridge.”
Two cadaver specialists of the dog squad also searched the sprawling premises of Singh. Sniffer dogs were pressed into service to find if there were more bodies buried there.
The SIT said Shafi has three fake Facebook accounts of which two have been retrieved while it has written to the social media giant to help retrieve the third account. The phone he used for social media interaction was yet to be retrieved and his wife has told the police that he destroyed it after a fight with her two months ago, officers said.