Kerala human sacrifice case: Police file first charge sheet

KOCHI: Kerala Police on Saturday submitted the first charge sheet in connection to the Kerala human sacrifice case.

Police submitted the charge sheet before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Ernakulam regarding the murder of Padma, who was a Tamil Nadu native, officials said.

She was brutally killed in the name of human sacrifice. The chargesheet in the murder of Roslin, another victim is yet to be filed.

"Three persons, identified as Muhammed Shafi, Bhagaval Singh, and Laila Bhagaval Singh, have been named as accused in the case," said officials.

The chargesheet was submitted on the 89th day since the arrests were made.

Murder, conspiracy, and abduction have been included as offence, while 150 witnesses were named in the chargesheet, said officials.

The three accused were arrested by the Kochi city police on October 11, last year, for murdering two women in a brutal manner in the name of human sacrifice in black magic rituals. The incident took place on June 6 and September 26.

The remains of the two deceased women- identified as Padma and Roslin, were exhumed later from pits near the residence of Singh and Laila in the Pathanamthitta district.

According to the Police remand report, on September 26, Shafi approached the 52-year-old Padma, who used to sell lottery tickets and lured her by offering Rs 15000. She had agreed and went with Shafi to the home of Bhagaval Singh and Laila, the report added.

"There the accused strangulated her neck with a plastic chord and slit her throat. Shafi mutilated Padma's private parts with a knife. After that, they chopped off her body into 56 parts and stored them into buckets and buried them in a pit," the report detailed.