Police said Padma was tortured with a knife and strangled.
Hyderabad:
It was a CCTV footage from Pattanamthitta in Kerala that provided the police with the first clues in the “human sacrifice” case. The footage was of Padma, one of the two victims of the gruesome crime that shook the nation. Footage shows him climbing into a white Scorpio and later crossing a road. The man who lived with him was Muhammad Shafi, who, police said, was the driving force behind the killings. The location of Padma’s cellphone led the police to Shafi, who had called massage therapist Bhagwal Singh and his wife Laila to help him, and promised him money after the ritual killings.
Police said the footage is from September 26, the day Padma went missing. They reached Singh’s house in Pattanamthitta on the spot of CCTV from roadside cameras. On 9 October, the police found CCTV footage from the house of their nearest neighbor Jose Thomas. In this, the standing Scorpio and Padma are shown walking in the house.
Kochi Police Commissioner C Nagaraju told NDTV that they are probing Padma’s case and “stumbled upon two murders”.
Under police interrogation, Singh confessed to killing Padma and Rosselin, who were missing since June, police said.
Police found the mutilated remains in pits around the house.
Police said Padma was tortured with a knife and strangled. His throat was slit and the body was cut into 56 pieces and buried. Roslyn was also stabbed in her private parts and murdered.
Police said Shafi tortured Padma and killed her. Laila Singh killed Rosalyn by inserting a knife into her private parts and then slitting her throat. Bhagwal Singh had cut off her breasts. Police said they were investigating the possibility of cannibalism.
The police is also investigating whether Shafi is a serial killer and there have been more victims. Police said he is a psychopath and a pervert who delights in cruelty.
In 2020, Shafi was accused of raping a 75-year-old woman who received Padma and Roslyn-like injuries but survived, police said.
Shafi and Singh have been charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence. He has been sent to judicial custody for two weeks.