PATHANAMTHITTA: One year since the sensational Elanthoor human sacrifice case came to light, the residence of Bhagaval Singh, a traditional healer, and his wife Laila in the quiet town near Pathanamthitta, where the crime is alleged to have taken place, is now a ghost house. Even during the day, people shudder to enter the premises. The house and treatment centre has been overrun by thick undergrowth and creepers — which have even made their way into the buildings.
Visitors still arrive from near and far. But most of them do not stray past the road onto the premises, out of fear. Though we live next door, we have no such concerns,” says Jose Thomas, a neighbour. “Although the world came to know of the goings-on on October 11, I started getting calls from police seeking details of Bhagaval Singh from October 9. At the time, we didn’t doubt Bhagaval Singh or his wife, who were good neighbours,” remembers Jose. “On the night of October 9, Bhagaval Singh visited my house and informed me that he had passed on my number to the cops.
He inquired about the CCTV cameras at my house. He wanted to know whether the cameras clearly showed people sitting in vehicles moving towards his house. “The cameras captured all vehicular activity on the road leading to both homes. These had the visuals of the car used for transporting the victims. On the morning of October 10, both of them were taken into custody from their house. I saw them being taken in the police jeep. Both of them were seated in the back, their heads bowed. I thought they were involved in some drug-related case. It was the very next day that the shock of their alleged crime hit us,” Jose recounts. Perumbavoor resident Mohammed Shafi is the first accused in the case, in which Bhagaval Singh and Laila are the second and third accused, respectively.
Nearly four months after the first victim went missing on June 6, the second victim went unaccounted for on September 26. Cases were registered by Kalady police on August 17 and Kochi’s Kadavanthra police on September 27.
According to police, Shafi, a rape accused, brought the victims to the house of Bhagaval Singh and Laila after convincing the couple that human sacrifice would help increase their wealth and prosperity.
On October 11, police teams from Kochi and Pathanamthitta started searching for the victims’ bodies after the three confessed to the crime. Pathanamthitta police reached the spot the same morning and blocked public access to the house using barricades and by deploying officers at key junctions. The team from Kochi reached the house with the three accused — their heads covered — at 1pm.
The accused revealed where they had buried what remained of the victims, said investigators. They informed officers that they buried the body parts of one of the victims near a banana tree on the premises. The police team employed some labourers to dig the premises, which were covered with shrubs. After around three hours of effort, six body parts believed to be that of one of the victims, including a left foot, were exhumed.
More body parts were recovered later amid an overpowering stench that left everyone gathered in shock. Some of the body parts of the supposed second victim were recovered from another spot on the same premises. DNA tests helped confirm the victims’ identities. The three accused are currently lodged in Thrissur’s Viyyur Central Prison.