The accused — Bhagaval Singh, his wife Laila, and Muhammed Shafi — will remain in police custody till October 24.
On Tuesday, Kochi city police commissioner CH Nagaraju confirmed that the three were arrested on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the three accused were sent to judicial custody for three weeks
As per the police remand report, the husband-wife pair of Bhagaval Singh and Laila conspired with the “prime accused” Muhammed Shafi to commit the crimes.
The police remand report of the accused mentions the shocking “human sacrifices” suspected to have been committed as part of a ritual to obtain financial benefits.
The remains of the two deceased women — identified as Padma and Roslin — were exhumed on Tuesday from pits near the residence of Singh and Laila in the Pathanamthitta district.
According to police, the accused allegedly lured the victims with the promise of money.
The remand report stated that the accused allegedly chopped up the bodies of the victims before burying them.
“On September 26, Shafi approached 52-year-old Padma, who used to sell lottery tickets at Kochi and lured her by offering Rs 15,000 for sex work,” the police remand report read.
“Then she agreed and went with Shafi to the home of Bhagaval Singh and Laila in the Pathanamthitta district. There, the accused strangled her with a plastic cord around her neck to make her unconscious. After that, Shafi mutilated Padma’s private parts using a knife and slit her throat. After that, they chopped her into 56 pieces and put the mutilated body parts into buckets and buried them in a pit,” the report detailed.
Police said that it is investigating the possibility of cannibalism that the accused possibly ate the flesh of the victims.
Kochi police commissioner CH Nagraju, addressing a press conference, told reporters that Shafi, the main accused, was a pervert and has a criminal past.
(With inputs from ANI)
