PATHANAMTHITTA: The investigation team probing the murder of two women recovered the body parts of the victims from the premises of the house of Bhagaval Singh in Pathanamthitta on Tuesday.
The police teams from Kochi and Pathanamthitta started a search for the women’s bodies after the three accused confessed to the crime. First, the Pathanamthitta police team reached the spot in the morning and cordoned off the area by placing barricades. The police team from Kochi reached the house with the three accused with their heads covered at 1 pm. The trio showed the place where the body parts were buried.
They told the police that they had buried the body parts of Padmam near a banana tree on the premises.
The police team began to dig the spot covered by bushes with the help of local workers. After around three hours, six body parts of Padmam including her left foot were exhumed. Later, other body parts were also exhumed.
Selvaraj, son of Padmam, and her sister Palaniamma were also brought by the police to the couple’s house for identifying the body parts. But they could not identify them properly.
Hence, the body parts were sent for DNA tests to confirm the identities of the victims. Some of the body parts of Rosily were also recovered from another spot on the premises. The police continued the search for the remaining body parts late into the night.
After the news of the murder appeared in media, a large number of people including the elderly reached the village. Some of them had undergone massage therapy by Bhagaval Singh.
Deputy Inspector General of Police R Nishanthini, Pathanamthitta police chief Swapnil Madhukar Mahajan and Kochi Deputy City Police Commissioner S Sasidharan led the joint investigation team.
Kerala State Women’s Commission chairperson P Satheedevi also reached the crime spot. She expressed deep shock at the incident. “It is so frightening to see such a heinous crime like human sacrifice taking place in a highly literate state like Kerala,” she said.
