KOCHI: The Ernakulam rural police filed a second chargesheet in the Elanthoor human sacrifice case before the Perumbavoor Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Saturday. This relates to the murder of Rosily, a native of Idukki who was living in Mattoor, Kalady.
The first accused, Muhammad Shafi, 52, a resident of Gandhinagar, Kochi, who has also been charged in several other cases, including for rape, attempt to murder and theft, is the main mastermind, as per the chargesheet. On the pretext of performing puja for financial gain, the victim was brought to the house of Bhagwal Singh, 67, and his wife Laila, 58, the second and third accused in the case, in Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta. She was then murdered, her body was cut into pieces, the flesh cooked, and then eaten. Parts of Rosily’s body were kept in the fridge and the rest were buried on the premises, according to the chargesheet.
Apart from murder, the three have also been charged with gangrape, abduction with an intention to murder, criminal conspiracy, human trafficking, disrespect to the dead body, theft and destruction of evidence.
The accused pawned a gold ring that was on the body of Rosily with a private financial firm in Elanthoor. Her mobile phone was thrown into the AC canal in Alappuzha. The ring and mobile phone were later recovered by police.
The chargesheet comprises statements from about 200 witnesses, nearly 130 documents and various materials, including knives and vehicles, used in the murder. The police recovered the body parts and identified the deceased through DNA examination. As the body parts were decomposed, evidence was collected against the accused with the help of forensic and cyber experts and they have been included in the chargesheet.
Police submitted the chargesheet on the 89th day after the arrest of the accused. Earlier, Kochi city police had filed the chargesheet in the murder of Padmam, the second victim, before the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on January 6.
The chargesheet in the Rosily murder was prepared under the supervision of Ernakulam rural police chief Vivek Kumar. A team under Ernakulam rural ASP T Biji George conducted the probe and collected the evidence. N K Unnikrishnan, who was the special prosecutor in the Perumbavoor Jisha murder case and the Koodathai serial murder case, has been appointed the special public prosecutor in this case.