The Kerala police has decided to reopen the cases of missing women in the last five years just days after they arrested three people accused of human sacrifice. "All missing women cases reported since 2017 in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, and Alappuzha districts in Kerala will be re-investigated," a senior police official told BOOM.
The re-investigation of missing women cases in Ernakulam, where 61 packets of body parts were found in a human sacrifice case, have already begun, he said.
Why Re-Investigation?
On Tuesday, Kerala police arrested Bhavagal Singh, his wife Laila, and their friend Rasheed alias Mohammed Shafi on charges of 'human sacrifice' in Elanthur, a tiny village in Pathanamthitta district, in Kerala.
Padma and Roslin, the victims in their early 50s, were lottery ticket sellers and residents of Kadavanthara and Kalady, both in Ernakulam district. One went missing in June this year, the other woman had gone missing since September.
A probe into the missing cases led the police to uncover the human sacrifice and the arrest of three.
Singh and Laila are residents of Elanthur, while Shafi belongs to Perumbavoor, near Kochi. Police says Shafi had brought the victims to Singh's house offering them money.
What Happened?
The remand report that is in possession with BOOM reveals gory, shocking details of how Shafi, Laila, and Singh tortured and killed the two women and later cut their body into pieces, and buried them in a pit in their land.
The probe started when Padma's husband Murugan approached the police on October 27.
From CCTV visuals, the police found that she got into a Scorpio vehicle. The police found the Scorpio had travelled to Elanthur. And further probe led to the arrest of the three. They found that Padma was lured into the trap by Shafi offering 15,000 rupees for sex work.
According to the remand report, Padma was killed brutally, and her body was cut into 56 pieces.
During the interrogation, the police found that the culprits had lured one Roslin and sacrificed her too, back in June. The accused Shafi had allegedly lured her by offering 10 lakh rupees to act in a pornographic film.
Who Are The Accused In The Kerala Human Sacrifice Case?
According to the police, Shafi had trapped women lottery ticket sellers because he knew that most of them didn't have families so the chances were that nobody would be looking for them if they go missing.
On Wednesday afternoon, talking to the media, Kochi commissioner CH Nagraju stated that the primary accused, Shafi, is a pervert with a criminal history. "He is a sexual pervert and a psychopath with criminal antecedents dating back a decade," Nagarju added.
Nagaraju said that Shafi has 10-odd cases, including rape, theft, and attempt to murder, registered against him over the last decade.
"The injuries he had inflicted on the private parts of the two victims were similar to what he had done to a 75-year-old woman he was accused of rape in 2020," Nagaraju said.
Kerala Police Chief Anil Kant has also ordered the formation of a special investigation team to investigate the cases registered in connection with the murder of two women in the brutal human sacrifice case. Kochi City Deputy Commissioner of Police S Sasidharan will be the head of the special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case, and Perumbavoor ASP Anuj Paliwal will be the chief investigating officer.
On Thursday, a Kerala court sent Singh, Laila, and Shafi into police custody for 12 days. Police had stated 22 points in the court to get the three accused in custody.
In the custody plea, the police stated that they have to probe "is there any other motives in the 'human sacrifice', are there more victims, recover gold ornaments of Roslin and Padma, how Shafi, who has studied only up to 6th standard used cyberspace skilfully and are there more weapons...."
On Thursday, while coming out of jail, Laila told reporters that "they haven't eaten victims' flesh." Media reports had claimed that cannibalism was suspected in the case.
Shafi, the 'mastermind' in the case had posed as a woman on social media and befriended accused Bhagaval Singh through a Facebook account, with the alias of Sreedevi. "They were in touch for the last four years. And the chats recovered are more than 100 pages," the police added.
An Anti-Superstition Law — Is It What Kerala Needs?
Many in Kerala have been pleading the government to pass the Kerala prevention and eradication of inhuman evil practices, sorcery, and black magic bill, 2019, which has been dusted in the Assembly.
The bill aims to end such practices of superstitions and notes that "no person shall by himself or through any other person, promote, propagate, or practice or cause to promote, propagate or practice in-human evil practices, black magic, or sorcery". The punishment for such a crime will be imprisonment for upto seven years and a fine of upto 50,000 rupees.
If the victim dies, the guilty shall be punished with either death or with life imprisonment and a fine. If the victim is hurt, the guilty shall be punishable with imprisonment for seven years, the bill notes.
The bill, prepared by the Kerala Law Reforms Commission was submitted to the Kerala government in 2019. However, the Assembly had not passed it.
Talking to BOOM, K George Oommen, a member of the Law Reforms Commission, said that it aims to promote social awareness, protect people against fraudulent and exploitative practices thriving on ignorance, control and eradicate inhuman evil practices propagated in the name of supernatural or magical powers, commonly known as black magic.
"Now such cases are dealt with in existing laws in the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. If we have an Act to deal with Elanthur-like cases, we will be able to act more efficiently to stop the repetition of such crimes," George said.
He added that even if the bill is passed and adopted, its effectiveness depends on the implementation. "If the law enforcement agencies aren't committed, then we will be helpless," he said.
In 2014, Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, an outfit that aims to use science for social cause submitted a similar bill to the state government to prevent black magic.
"The Bill aims at eradicating superstitious and evil practices in the state and promote scientific temper as defined by the Indian Constitution," Ajith Kumar from Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad told BOOM. According to this Bill, the culprit can be sentenced to jail for seven years or fined up to 500,000 rupees.
Ajith believes that people in Kerala are becoming "more religious and losing their scientific temper". "This is what results in Elanthur-like crime. We have to start from the schools. Only then we would be able to bring a change," he said.
Dr. Arun NM, a psychiatrist and author, told BOOM that the Elanthur did not surprise him. It was waiting to happen. "It's so easy to be fooled without rational thinking and questioning ability," he said.
Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist and author of Undocumented-Penguin 2021