The couple who committed the heinous act have been identified as Bhagawal Singh and his wife Laila, who were running a massage parlor near Aranmulla in Pathanamthita district at their house. Shafi brought the two women to the couple’s home in June and September, and they were brutally murdered by the couple.
Shafi has been named as the main accused along with Singh and Laila.
Addressing the media in Kochi after the accused trio was produced before a city court that sent them to two-week judicial custody, Kochi Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju said Shafi was a fake and was involved in a dozen cases registered against him in recent 15 years.
“Shafi only studied up to 6th grade and did all the menial jobs – from a driver to a mechanic to a hotel manager. A case of rape was registered against him when he raped a 75-year-old woman and also used a knife to injure her private parts. We found that the same places were injured in the two women who were killed apparently as a human sacrifice,” Nagaraju added.
“He (Shafi) has now been proven to be a psychopath and a sexual pervert and the person who derives sexual pleasure and will go to any extent even to kill for it. He used a fake Facebook account and it said if anyone has financial problems to contact him. So he befriended the Singhs and it took him three years to win their trust and trap them and the crime was committed,” the commissioner said.
Responding to questions after reports surfaced that the couple after killing the two women as part of black magic cooked and ate their body parts, Nagaraju said that to prove this there should be a proper scientific study as in there is currently no evidence from him.
He added that the police had already formed a special team and would seek the arrest of the accused to ensure the completion of the investigation.