Elanthoor human sacrifice: Second chargesheet filed

Aluva: The second charge-sheet in the Elanthoor human sacrifice cases has confirmed cannibalism and also included charges of gang-rape. The 3000-page chargesheet, which was submitted in the court the other day by the police Special Investigation Team, includes 200 statements of the witnesses and 130 documents. 

Two women were killed in the alleged human sacrifices at Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district.

Mohammed Shafi, 52, a resident at Gandhinagar in Ernakulam, and Bhagaval Singh, 67, and wife Laila, 58, who are natives of Elanthoor, are accused number first to third in both the cases.

The latest chargesheet states that Shafi, who is an accused in several cases, took the victims to the co-accused's house at Elanthoor, murdered them, cut the bodies into pieces, cooked and ate the flesh, kept some in the refrigerator and buried the rest in the premises.

Apart from murder, the accused have also been slapped with the charges of abduction with the intention of murder, criminal conspiracy, human trafficking, disrespect to dead body, theft, and destruction of evidence.

This chargesheet, which pertains to the murder of the woman from Kalady, was filed in the Perumbavoor magistrate court on Saturday by  the SIT led by Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Biji George.

The first chargesheet regarding the murder of an Ernakulam-based Tamil woman was submitted in the Ernakulam magistrate court on January 6.

With the latest charges, the possibility of the accused securing bail has diminished. 

Why gang-rape charge  

The charge of gang-rape has been included in the chargesheet as per the amendment brought in following the 2012 Nirbhaya case in New Delhi that states that injuring the private parts of victims using weapons would amount to rape.  The victims in the Elanthoor case reportedly bore such injuries. 

The accused in the 2016 murder case of a law student at Perumbavoor was also charged with rape for causing similar injuries.

Other submissions

The knife used to commit the murder and vehicles were also submitted in court by the SIT. 

The probe team also found evidence of the accused having pawned the gold ring of one of the victims at a private finance firm at Elanthoor. The police had also recovered the mobile phone that was dumped in the AC Canal in Alappuzha. The DNA test results that confirmed the identity of the victims have also been included. 

The first charge-sheet was submitted 89 days after the arrests of the accused were recorded. 

Deputy Commissioner Of Police of Kochi City S Sashidharan, Assistant Commissioner Of Police (ACP) Perumbavoor Anuj Paliwal, Mulanthuruthy Station House Officer P S Shiju, Kalady SHO N A Anoop, Sub-Inspectors T B Bibin, P C Prasad, Assistant SI T S Siju, senior Civil Police Officers  M V Binu, M R Rajesh, P A Shibu, K P Habib, V R Anil Kumar, M S Dilipkumar, and P M Ritheesh are part of the probe team.

N K Unnikrishnan special prosecutor

N K Unnikrishnan, who had been the Special Public Prosecutor in the murder case of a law student in Perumbavoor and Koodathayi killings, will appear for the prosecution in the Elanthoor human sacrifice case, stated Ernakulam (Rural) SP Vivek Kumar.