News Brief
Kerala Double-Murder Case: Mastermind Mohammad Shafi A Repeat Offender And Sadist
- Police are investigating the possibility of 'cannibalism' in this case where the victims were tortured and dismembered.
Mohammed Shafi.
A gruesome case of double murders from Pathanamthitta (Kerala) is being unravelled by the Kerala police.
The key accused include a serial offender and con man Mohammad Shafi (52) and a couple, Bhagaval Singh (68) and Laila (59), caught in Shafi’s web of lies.
Anatomy Of The Crime
As per police investigation, Shafi entrapped the couple three years back via Facebook. He used a fake identity to get in touch with them.
Claiming to be an “occult practitioner”, he suggested human sacrifice and brought them under his influence on the pretext of solving the couple’s financial problems.
Shafi lured two women victims who worked as lottery sellers to Singh’s house.
A six-page police remand note contained horrific details about the crime committed. Police said the two women, Padma (52) and Rosli Verghese (49), were lured on the pretext of sex, with the former promised a sum of Rs 15,000 while the latter was offered Rs 10 lakh for acting in a porn film.
The probe to trace Padma, who went missing in September from Elamkulam led to the detection of the killing of another victim, Roslin, a Chalakudy resident, who disappeared in June.
The women were tied to a cot and tortured. One of the victim’s breasts was chopped off and the body of the other was cut into 56 pieces by the accused, according to the police remand report filed before a local court.
Police are also investigating the possibility of 'cannibalism' in the case.
The case came to light after police started investigating a missing report filed by son of one of the victims, Padma, when she did not return home after several days in early September.
The last location of her phone was found at Pathanamthitta and on analysing it, police found there were many calls from Shafi. A call data analysis of Shafi’s phone led the probe team to Singh, who admitted to the horrific crime after sustained interrogation.
Main Accused: A History Sheeter
The police have described Shafi as a pervert and a sadist, with a mindset to cause injury, harm and death. He faces several cases, including that of theft and rape.
In one of the rape cases, a 75-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and inflicted injuries on various parts of her body, in a chilling similarity to the latest fatal incidents.
Shafi is said to have received Rs 3 lakh from the couple.
Criticism From Opposition
The leader of opposition in the Kerala state assembly, V D Satheesan, attacked the ruling government. He said it was significant that one of the killers was an active worker of CPI(M), which claims to be progressive.
State BJP chief K Surendran also alleged that one of the killers was a CPI(M) activist, and radical religious groups were also involved in the crime.
Union minister V Muraleedharan criticised the state government for its delayed response in acting against the culprits, one of whom is a CPI(M) worker.
CPI(M) has, however, dismissed the charges as baseless.
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