Human sacrifice: CCTV footage was key to cracking the case

Thiruvalla: The shocking human sacrifice case reported from near here was cracked with the help of CCTV footage collected from near the house of the accused couple — Bhagwal Singh and Laila.

For the past two days, their house in Elanthoor area and its nearby localities were under the strict surveillance of a police team from Kochi which was probing the case of a missing Tamil woman, Padmam.

Since Padmam, a native of Dharmapuri, went missing on September 26, her son and sister have been frequenting the police station.

They complained to the Kochi City Police Commissioner also. The police managed to obtain CCTV footage that showed Padmam boarding a Scorpio from Kochi, proving a vital lead in the investigation.

The probe tracked the route of the car and the police finally landed at the house of Bhagwal Singh at Elanthoor here.

On October 9, police contacted Jose Thomas, a neighbour of Bhagwal Singh, and collected the CCTV footage since September 26.

It was from this set of CCTV footage that the police learned the Scorpio car in which Padmam travelled had reached Bhagwal Singh’s house.

On the same night, two cops from Aranmula police station reached the place and conducted inquiries. Soon, the house of Bhagwal Singh was placed under surveillance.

At 7 am on Monday, a police team from Kochi reached the house. At that time Bhagwal Singh and his wife were about to go out.

The cops questioned them for close to four hours at the house and they finally owned up for the crime.

The coupled showed the places where the bodies of the two women — Padmam and Rosy — were buried. By 12 noon, police took them into custody and reached Kochi by Tuesday morning.

Finally, the public got to know about the shocking news as media persons reached out to the police.