KOCHI: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the twin murders at Elanthoor has ruled out the organ trading angle in the human sacrifice case. Kochi City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju on Tuesday said when reporters met him at his office that the SIT’s primary focus is on the murders and other related aspects would be probed in the second stage.
TNIE on Tuesday published an article on the opinion of experts about organ transplantation, ruling out such possibilities behind the Elanthoor incident. Nagaraju claimed that bodies were cut in a manner butchers did.
Nagaraju said the first accused, Muhammad Shafi, had told many stories to the Elanthoor couple and co-accused Bhagaval Singh and wife Laila. “From common sense, organ transplantation cannot happen in unhygienic and unsterilised conditions. That is the basic logic. But Shafi might have influenced other accused persons to allege organ transplantation,” he said. “We suspect that it was Shafi who mainly cut the bodies. The cuts were very sharp. We are yet to record the statements of doctors. As bodies were cut into several pieces, the postmortem examination is taking a long time. The medical team has been working hard for some days now,” he said.
When rumours related to the case were raised with the police commissioner, he said the investigation team’s main focus is the twin murders. “As part of it, the motive and preparations made by accused persons have to be looked into. If we receive any information about other acts of the accused persons, we will look into those in the second stage,” he said.
During interrogation, the accused persons narrated several stories. But the police are not looking into what they say. “There is no obligation that we believe everything that these accused persons say. They have refused to divulge several matters. We are trying to corroborate evidence with the facts of the case,” he said.
He said Shafi used Facebook to influence the Elanthoor couple. The sleuths have recovered several mobile phones as part of the probe. Forensic analysis of these phones is being conducted. “Shafi knew social media platforms well. The couple was also active users of social media platforms,” Nagaraju said.The police are also waiting for the government to appoint a special public prosecutor for handling the legal side of the case. Similarly, the police would also request for a fast-track court to complete the trial in the case.The probe team also collected the blood samples from relatives of the deceased, Padmam and Rosily Varghese, for DNA verification.
EVIDENCE COLLECTION IN KOCHI CONTINUES
KOCHI: The special team probing the Elanthoor human sacrifice case on Tuesday took prime accused Mohammad Shafi to various parts of Kochi as part of evidence collection. The probe team took Shafi to the places where he had taken Padma before they travelled to Elanthoor on September 26. Shafi was taken to Chitoor Road from where he had picked up Padma, one of the victims, on a two-wheeler. According to the officers, Shafi and Padma had travelled to Fashion Street on a bike. Kochi City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju said the accused persons have to be taken to various places as part of evidence collection. The team will also travel to Elanthoor with accused persons for second round evidence collection in the coming days.
‘State to enact law to curb black magic’
Kochi: In the wake of the human sacrifice case in Pathanamthitta, the state government on Tuesday informed the High Court that it will enact a law to curb black magic and sorcery in the state. The state made the submission in reply to a petition filed by Kerala Yukthi Vadhi Sanghom seeking a directive to the state government to take a decision on the recommendation of the State Law Reforms Commission to enact the Kerala Prevention of Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery, and Black Magic Bill. The court also sought details of the steps taken to enact the law based on the recommendation of the commission. The petitioner a directive to the state police chief to conduct searches to find out black magic centres and take action against them.