Behind Kerala ritualistic ‘sacrifice’: 2 missing women, a ‘healer’ who wanted to get rich
On Tuesday, their chopped body parts were exhumed from the premises of a traditional healer-cum-masseur at Elanthoor village in neighbouring Pathanamthitta district.
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The police have taken a couple, Bhagaval Singh and Laila, into custody from Elanthoor. (Sourced)THE TWO women, both residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala, sold lottery tickets for a living. They had another thing in common: both frequented the same low-cost restaurant in Kochi, till they went missing, over three months apart – Rosly (49) on June 6, and Padmam (52) on September 26. On Tuesday, their chopped body parts were exhumed from the premises of a traditional healer-cum-masseur at Elanthoor village in neighbouring Pathanamthitta district.
Police said the women were tortured and killed as part of a “ritualistic human sacrifice for financial prosperity’’. Kochi City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju said three persons have been arrested so far – the healer-cum-masseur, Bhagaval Singh, his wife Laila, and Muhammed Shafi alias Rasheed, the owner of the restaurant in Kochi who is alleged to have lured the victims. “We suspect that a ritualistic human sacrifice has taken place. The women were beheaded and their bodies were buried. They were subjected to inexplicable torture at Singh’s house,’’ said Nagaraju, adding that the women were sacrificed for the “financial prosperity” of Singh and his wife.
The residential plot in Elanthoor in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district where the women were reportedly beheaded and their bodies buried. (Sourced)
“We have already got the confessional statements of the couple and Shafi, who had lured the women for the sacrifice. We are collecting scientific evidence,’’ he said.
The killings came to light when police were probing a missing person case, filed by Padmam’s family. Padmam, originally from Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, had been living in Kochi. On September 27, a day after she went missing, her family filed a police complaint. After analysing call records, police found that Padmam had been in touch with Shafi, who was earlier named in several criminal cases including drug peddling, assaults and rape, was then taken into custody. Police found that earlier this year, Shafi had created a fake Facebook account, with ‘Sreedevi’ as the user name, and put out a post offering puja services for increasing financial wealth. According to police, Shafi got in touch with Singh through this Facebook account, and told him that he knew a black magic practitioner who could offer solutions for his prosperity. He then visited Singh’s house, presenting himself as the black magic practitioner, police said.
Shafi allegedly told the couple that they could become rich if they performed a human sacrifice. Police said lottery vendors were regular customers at Shafi’s restaurant. And that is how he identified the first victim, Rosly, allegedly promising her Rs 10 lakh for filming a porn video.
Police commissioner Nagaraju said the main objective of the human sacrifice was the couple’s financial prosperity. (Sourced)
Rosly was taken to Singh’s house, where she was subjected to torture. Police said she was tied to a cot, her breasts were chopped off, and she was beheaded. The body was later dumped in a pit near the house. After the first murder, Shafi was a regular visitor at Singh’s house and even stayed with him for days, said police. He allegedly convinced the couple to offer another human sacrifice, and identified Padmam, also a customer at his restaurant, as the next victim. She was lured in the same manner, taken to Singh’s house, tortured and killed.
Police said Singh, who belongs to a family of traditional healers in Elanthoor, is active on social media. He would post haikus on his pages, and reportedly also held classes on haiku poetry.
While Rosly went missing on June 6, police received a complaint on August 17 after her daughter, who works as a teacher in UP, reached Kerala in search of her mother. They couldn’t make any headway in the case, until they got a breakthrough in the second case.
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