Kerala Human sacrifice: Post-mortem over

KOTTAYAM: A post-mortem on the two women's bodies, which were exhumed on October 11 as part of an investigation into a gruesome human sacrifice case at Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district, was completed on Thursday, Medical College Hospital sources said.

The post-mortem began on Wednesday at the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital where it was brought from Elanthoor.

Sources said only the skeleton was available for the one of the victims - Roslin - while the body of Padma, the second victim, was found in 56 pieces.

"Roslin's post-mortem was completed on Wednesday itself. The inquest on Padma's body got completed today. The post-mortems were conducted after confirming that they were the bodies of women. The medical inquest was delayed as the bodies were in a decomposed State," sources said.

Adoor RDO completed the procedural formalities after the post-mortem and the bodies were shifted to the mortuary. However, the bodies would be handed over to the relatives only after the results of the DNA test are out.

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It is learnt that a detailed report of the post-mortem including the nature of injuries and details on the internal organs of the deceases would be handed over to the special investigation team soon.

The women had undergone gruesome tortures as the breasts of one of them had been chopped off and the body of the other was cut into 56 pieces by the accused, according to the police remand report filed before a local court here.

The court today granted 12-day custody of the prime accused Mohammed Shafi (52), Bhagaval Singh (68), a massage therapist and his wife Laila (59).

"The accused conspired to conduct the human sacrifice with an intention to bring prosperity in the life of the second and third accused by pleasing the goddess in favour of Singh and his wife Laila," the remand report had said.

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The chopped body parts of the deceased were exhumed from the premises of the couple's house at Elanthoor village in Pathanamthitta on Wednesday.

The first woman went missing on September 26 and the probe led to Shafi.

On further interrogating him, police found the trio had earlier murdered the second victim in a similar manner in June.