Human sacrifice case: Police seeks custody of accused in court

PTI, Oct 12, 2022, 12:38 PM IST

The three people, accused in the sensational human sacrifice case, were produced before a court here on Wednesday morning.

The arrest of the trio, Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila and Muhammad Shafi, was recorded on Tuesday, for allegedly sacrificing two women to settle the financial issues of the couple and bring prosperity in their life.

The police sought a 10-day custody of the accused for detailed interrogation.

According to media reports, advocate B A Aloor, known for representing the accused in several sensational cases, appeared in the court for the trio in this case.

On Tuesday night, senior IPS officer R Nishanthini, who gave lead to the exhumation procedures at the couple’s house in Elanthoor village in Pathanamthitta, where the bodies of the victims were buried after being chopped in pieces, said prima facie the crime was committed to settle the financial issues of the couple and to bring prosperity in their life.

Quoting the accused, the officer said Muhammand Shafi alias Rasheed, who had lured the hapless women and brought them to Singh’s house, had contacted the couple through Facebook Messenger.

As per the primary assumption, the Shafi had used a fake ID to contact the couple.

According to police, the two women, who made a living selling lottery tickets on the streets here, were ‘sacrificed’ by the accused to resolve the financial problems of the couple.

The chopped body parts, suspected to be that of the deceased, were exhumed from the premises of the couple’s house at Elanthoor on Tuesday.

The women had gone missing in September and June this year and the eventual probe, based on their mobile phone details and tower locations, unravelled the story of human sacrifice.