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The court granted 12 days custody to police as sought by it for collecting evidence and further investigation into the horrific crime.
The court had on Wednesday remanded the prime accused Shafi (52), Bhagaval Singh (68), a massage therapist and his wife Laila (59) to 14-day judicial custody. In the custody application filed before a local court here on Thursday, police said the accused need to be further interrogated to probe whether there was any other reason behind the human sacrifice. The police said they need to investigate whether there are more victims of this horrific crime. The gold ornaments of the deceased women are missing. It seems like they have been sold or pledged by the accused. They are yet to be traced, police said. The custody application also said that the accused need to be taken to various places in Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam districts as part of collecting evidence. The police said they also need to probe the classes taken by Singh and the sectors associated with him. The chopped body parts of the deceased were exhumed from the premises of the couple’s house at Elanthoor village in Pathanamthitta on October 11.
The first woman went missing on September 26 and the probe led to Shafi. On further interrogating him, police found that the trio had earlier murdered the second victim in a similar manner in June.