By Matters India Reporter

Kochi, Oct 15, 2022: Catholic bishops in Kerala have cautioned people against rising occult practices in the wake of reported cases of human sacrifices in the southern Indian state.

“No civilized society can image such ghastly murders. We are shocked,” Father Jacob G Palakkappilly, the spokesperson of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), told Matters India on October 13, two days after the gruesome murders came to light following investigation into the missing complaint of one of the women.

According to the police, two middle aged women were sacrificed for prosperity and wealth in the past four months in Pathanamthitta district.

“Nothing but shocked. It has happened in Kerala,” said Sister Jessy Kurian, a Supreme Court lawyer, reacting to the reports of human sacrifices in a state that boasts of the highest literacy rate and a model women empowerment in India.

The police arrested the prime suspect, Mohammad Shafi alias Rasheed, a black magic practitioner, and Bhagaval Singh, a traditional healer, and his wife, Laila in connection with the double murders.

They were produced before the District and Sessions Court in Ernakulam (Kochi) on October 12 and were remanded in judicial custody for 14-days.

According to the police, Rasheed, with the help of a fake Facebook account pretending as a female, came in contact with the other accused and offered them wealth and prosperity through tantric rituals.

As the couple fell in the trap and began to trust their Facebook friend who directed them to a tantric (Rasheed himself) who could help them perform the rituals.

Rasheed suggested them to sacrifice two women and agreed to arrange them for 300,000 rupees.

The trio as per the plan identified Roslin and Padma, both lottery tickets vendors, and offered them roles in movies for a payment of 1 million rupees each.

Roslin was believed to have been sacrificed on June 8 and Padma on September 26 and their dismembered body parts were buried in their house premises.

The women, according to police, were taken to the house of Singh who tied them to a cot on the plea it was for the shooting and chopped off their breasts and inflicted several wounds on their bodies amid chanting of mantras and finally cut off their heads.

Media reports also said Rasheed had sexually exploited both the women before killing them. He also had sex with Laila as her husband watched on the plea that it was part of the ritual. They also had reportedly eaten certain body parts of the victims.

Kochi police commissioner C H Nagaraju told media persons that the accused had admitted to the crime.

Reacting to reports that they cooked and ate their victims’ flesh, police said the team was looking for evidence. The team is examining 61 packets of body parts, including 56 found in a single pit, and five skeletal parts in another. Samples for DNA test have to be taken, said the officer.

Rasheed, the police said, was a psychopath and sexual pervert, who was named in 10 cases including rape, attempt to murder and theft.

Father Palakkappilly said this incident needs to be treated as a wake-up call for everyone in the state.

“The government needs to put its intelligence agencies on high alert against the rising occult practices as part of faith in the state,” the priest asserted.

“Now we see different kinds of occult practices as part of religious faith and in most cases people are unable to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong,” bemoaned the Church official.

The priest also suggested political and religious leaders in the state to take proactive steps to save people from getting trapped into superstitious acts.

Sister Kurian, writing on her Facebook page questioned Kerala’s claims to be a progressive society.

“Exploitation of women on the pretext of faith is taking place in every religion but in different degrees. Here too is the exploitation of women but by promising money to act in a film,” she writes.

Some women, she adds, are the easy targets. “The helplessness, joblessness, ignorance, and vulnerability in life lead to such exploitations,” she explains.

She says the accused “deserve nothing but the highest punishment in the land.”

She wants the administration to take steps to end such religious practices. “A proper law to this effect is need of the hour. Educating the masses against such practices should begin with school education,” she asserts.