KOCHI: For his neighbours in Kochi's Gandhi Nagar, Mohammed Shafi alias Rasheed is a grocery store owner. They never suspected that hiding behind the facade was a human trafficker, rapist and self-proclaimed sorcerer who indulged in human sacrifice.
“We were shocked upon hearing that he was behind the brutal murder of two women in Elanthoor,” said Edwin, a fellow Gandhi Nagar resident. Edwin said Shafi, 52, moved to the locality around eight months ago.
Police said Shafi is also an accused in the rape and brutal assault on a 75-year-old woman reported in Kolenchery in 2020, while he was working as a lorry driver. He had gotten out of jail around a year ago.
Though there are reports that Shafi is a native of Perumbavoor, it is not confirmed. He did stay in Perumbavoor and moved to Chembarakky, Aluva. After he was released from jail, he shifted to his current place, a rented home in Gandhi Nagar. There, he has been living with his wife and two daughters.
One of his daughters is married, said neighbours, who added that he and his family were never keen on maintaining any acquaintance with local residents. “He would go to his shop at Shenoy's junction in the morning and return by night,” said a neighbour.
Shafi never maintained any relation with us: Neighbours
Nandu, another local resident, said Shafi used to quarrel with his wife regularly and had physically assaulted her several times. “However, the couple never created any nuisance to the neighbours. My house is very near to his but he never maintained any relationship with us,” he said. Shafi, he said, owns two vehicles including an SUV.
Shafi had lured the two women to Bhagaval Singh and Laila’s house and sacrificed them in the name of black magic. The police said he first brought Rosily to the couple’s house in June this year.
When the couple complained that there had been no change in their lives even after they sacrificed Rosily, he approached Padmam and lured her by offering her a role in an adult film and promising Rs 10 lakh as remuneration.
Recalling the case related to the rape and assault of a 75-year-old woman in 2020, the Ernakulam Rural police said Shafi had been a lorry driver at the time. They said he, along with his woman friend who was the victim’s neighbour, had taken the woman to a house in Pangode near Kolenchery, after offering her tobacco and tea. After he raped the woman, Shafi stabbed her all over her body, including in her private parts, with a sharp weapon, said the police.
