Indian police arrests three for allegedly killing two women in suspected human sacrifice

The police in the Indian state of Kerala have arrested three people for allegedly killing two women in what is suspected to be a case of human sacrifice.

The remains of the women who were allegedly murdered months apart, were found on Tuesday with the police accusing a couple and another man of “severely torturing” the victims before killing them.

According to the Kerala Police in a statement on Wednesday, the accused are Bhagaval Singh, described as an “ayurvedic healer who is versed in black magic”, his wife Laila, and Mohammed Shafi, an “occult practitioner” from Idukki district.

They were arraigned on preliminary charges in a court in Cochin city on Wednesday morning where they were sent to judicial custody for three weeks.

The Cochin Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju said the murders took place over four months and were suspected to be part of a ritual done for “financial benefits”.

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Nagaraju said the accused allegedly lured the victims who sold lottery tickets in Cochin, with the promise of money and allegedly beheaded them before chopping their bodies into pieces.

He added that the motive behind the murder was based only on a “preliminary assumption” and that they were investigating based on the confessions.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said the crime had “shocked the human conscience” and that abducting and killing people for superstitious reasons was a crime “beyond imagination in a state like Kerala”.

The police have identified the victims as Padma and Rosli.

Padmam, 52, was from Dharmapuram district in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state and lived in Cochin while Rosli, 49, was from Thrissur district and lived in the satellite town of Kalady.

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