A day after a case of alleged human sacrifices in Kerala came to light, police on Wednesday revealed gruesome details of the crime, including that one victim was dismembered into 56 pieces. At a press meet, Kochi Commissioner CH Nagraju said Shafi, the main accused, has a criminal record and jailed a couple – Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila – who sacrificed themselves to get the money. The commissioner called Shafi a psychopath and said he would be investigated as the couple convinced. The pair, on the other hand, have no criminal history, police said.
The victims were killed in the most brutal manner, the commissioner said, and parts of the bodies were buried in different parts of Bhagwal Singh’s house. The victims were also injured in their private parts, the commissioner said, adding that Shafi took sadistic pleasure in torturing the victims. Laila, one of the accused, confessed that they (all three) consumed part of the victims’ bodies after cooking.
The three accused were brought to court and have been in custody for two weeks. The shocking incident took place on Tuesday when police were investigating a missing complaint. Following the trail, the police discovered that occult practitioner Mohammad Shafi had brainwashed the couple into performing a human sacrifice and promising them wealth. The missing man was their second victim, while the first victim was another woman who was killed in June.
Shafi, the main accused, is a hardened criminal and is facing eight cases in different police stations. His list of crimes includes rape, trespassing, drunken brawls and cheating. Police said he changed his house every year to bluff the police and mostly stayed in camps. His weapon to deceive people was social media and even in this case he advertised on social media and then in local dailies that he could perform some rituals that would attract wealth and prosperity. The couple teamed up with him and paid ₹1.50 lakh for “rituals” that involved human sacrifice. After the first sacrifice in June, the couple saw no financial improvement and went to Shafi, who then influenced them to make a second sacrifice.
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