Three people, including a couple, were sent to police custody for 12 days by a local court in Kerala on Thursday, for their involvement in the kidnapping and gruesome murder of two women, allegedly for human sacrifice.
The court of Judicial First Class Magistrate Eldose Mathew in Ernakulam remanded Muhammed Shafi (alias Rashid), Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila Bhagawal Singh to 14-day police custody, a day after awarding them 14 days judicial custody.
The accused were on Wednesday taken to Kakkanad sub-jail and Laila to a women’s jail. At that time, police had not moved for their custody.
On October 11, police had recovered dismembered bodies of two women from Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district.
Investigation revealed that the women were lottery ticket sellers in Ernakulam and had gone missing in June and September this year. Neither of them had families in Kerala.
Police then arrested one Rashid for allegedly arranging the abduction and committing the sacrificial murder. Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila were also taken into custody for suspicion of having commissioned and taken part in the sacrificial murder. Police said Shafi had lured the two women under the pretext of offering them lump sum cash for engaging in flesh trade and acting in some porn films.
Shafi contacted the Singhs through social media and planned to commit human sacrifice, supposedly for financial prosperity. The women were then taken to Singh’s home, where they were allegedly murdered in a gruesome manner, dismembered and buried in the yard of the house.
Advocate BA Aloor appeared for all the accused.