Skeletons from the past: Kin of missing women approach cops after ‘human sacrifice’ case

Kottayam, Oct 17: As the investigation is going on in the human sacrifice case in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, relatives of more missing women have approached the police. The families of these women now fear that the accused in the human sacrifice case may be behind their disappearances too.

According to a report published in Hindustan Times, these families are now approaching the police to find out if the accused Mohammad Shafi alias Rasheed has anything to do in these cases as well.

The police arrested Shafi (52) and a therapist couple - Bhagaval Singh (68) and his wife Laila (59) - on October 11 in the alleged murder of two women at Elanthoor village in the district as part of ritualistic human sacrifice for financial prosperity.

Some of the relatives of the missing women approached the police. Among them, relatives of Bindhu Padmanabhan also approached the police. Bindu has been missing from the Alappuzha district since 2013. Her relatives claimed that she was seen with a person who resembled Shafi before her disappearance, according to the report.

Reacting to the claims of Bindu's relatives, deputy superintendent of police (crime branch) R Suresh said, "We will question Shafi. But we haven't got anything concrete to connect Shafi with the missing case." He further said, "Some of her relatives told us that she was seen in the company of a person resembling Shafi."

In the alleged human sacrifice case that has shook the very conscience of the nation, two women-49-year-old Roselin and the 52-year-old Padma- were killed. The SIT is probing the case.

The SIT said that Shafi was a hard nut to crack and used all opportunities to mislead the probe, reported the HT.

Along with Bindu's relatives, the relatives of Sarojini K, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2014 barely a few km from the house of the accused couple in the alleged human sacrifice case in Elanthoor, also demanded a fresh investigation into her death.

The police decided to re-open all cases of related to missing complaints of women in Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta districts in the last five years. A senior police officer said, "12 such cases were reported from Pathanamthitta and 14 from Ernakulam in the past five years."

Another woman from Cherthala also told the police a similar story, as per the report.

Earlier, the SIT had asked women with any information about the accused to approach the nearest police station.