Kochi: A special police team probing the Elanthoor human sacrifice case is investigating whether key accused Muhammed Shafi received help from outside parties in carrying out his dubious activities.
Padmam (50), who was a native of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, and a Keralite named Rosily (49) were murdered as part of a human sacrifice ritual by Shafi and the couple Bhagval Singh and Laila at the latter's house at Elanthoor in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district.
Despite being a Class 6 dropout, Shafi managed to deceive many, including the Elanthoor couple, with his expert-like handling of social media. He created a fake profile to contact the second accused Bhagval Singh in the guise of a young woman. He managed to convince the couple to heed all his antics, including the conduct of black magic and the shocking human sacrifices. The latter didn’t realize his real identity until the police interrogated Shafi along with them the other day.
The cops submitted before the court that it needed to be probed whether Shafi got help from someone else. The investigation revealed his suspicious presence in places like Kottayam, Kochi, and Malayatoor, besides Pathanamthitta in recent times.
Before carrying out the shocking human sacrifices, Shafi had travelled across the state and brought many people to the house of the couple at Elanthoor. Statements need to be collected from all these persons, the police informed the court on Thursday.
The statement of those who stayed at the house of the Elanthoor couple for availing Ayurveda treatment too needed to be recorded. This included certain persons working in the film field. Also, it should be examined whether the accused had any connection with the missing cases involving women in various parts of the state, they submitted.
Ernakulam Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court has granted police custody for all three accused — Shafi, Bhagval Singh and Laila — until October 24.
The court accepted the arguments of the investigation team and allowed them the custody of the accused till October 24. The court asked the police to subject the trio to a medical examination every three days and hand over the reports to it.
Following this, the accused were taken to the Police Club at Kadavantra after conducting their medical examination at the Ernakulam General Hospital. The police team started interrogating them from Thursday evening.