‘Human sacrifice’ case: Kerala SIT searches the house of accused couple
The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to the Kerala government, seeking an action-taken report in connection with the case.
The special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged human sacrifice of two women in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district on Saturday searched the house of accused Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila in Elanthoor village to collect evidence, officials said.
The development came a day after the SIT said it would excavate the sprawling land of second accused Singh at Elanthoor to find whether more bodies were buried there.
“SIT reaches the house of accused Bhagaval Singh & Laila to collect evidence. Police team is searching the campus with the help of 2 specially trained Police dogs ‘Maya’ & ‘Murphy’,” news agency ANI said in a tweet. “A large crowd gathers outside their campus as the search continues.”
The couple, along with main accused Mohammad Shafi alias Rasheed, was arrested on October 11 in connection with the murder of two women in Pathanamthitta. Both deceased in their fifties, Padma and Roselin, were lottery vendors and reportedly trapped by the prime accused promising financial benefits.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Kerala government, seeking an action-taken report in connection with the case.
The panel said it has taken suo motu cognisance of the media report that two women, reported missing to police by their families, became victims of human sacrifice in a bizarre ritual orchestrated by a self-styled voodoo practitioner, professing to bring luck to a couple facing financial problems.
“The state, being the guardian of its citizens, is responsible for their safety and cannot escape its liability to protect them from such evil practices,” it said.
The NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police of Kerala, calling for a report in the matter in four weeks, including the status of the investigation and compensation, if any, paid to the victims’ families.
Observing that such incidents cannot be expected in a civilised society, wherein a human being is killed in the name of a ritual without any fear of law, the NHRC said the right to life of the victims has been grossly violated.
On Friday, an SIT official had said that after sustained interrogation of the accused, they suspected there could me more victims. SIT officials had also raided the house of Shafi and the hotel he was running in Kochi.
The Kerala police have also decided to reopen all cases pertaining to missing complaints of women in Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta districts in the last five years. A senior police officer said that 12 women missing cases were reported from Pathanamthitta and 14 from Ernakulam districts in the past five years. “Special officers will be deputed to check and purse these cases vigorously,” a senior officer said, requesting anonymity.
(With agency inputs)
