It all began a few months ago. Bhagaval Singh had no idea the woman named Sreedevi he was chatting with was a man.
The small-time haiku poet and traditional healer based in Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district believed everything Sreedevi said about a tantric in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam.
The tantric turned out to be Mohammed Shafi, alias Rashid, the mastermind behind the twin human sacrifices in Kerala, according to the police.
Sreedevi with whom Singh had been chatting was none other than Rashid himself— no other bait works better to lure a man.
Sreedevi reportedly convinced Sigh of seeking the tantric's help to become prosperous.
Now Rashid, the Tantric, emerged on the scene and what followed was the shocking revelation of brutal sacrificial murder of two women.
The neighbours of Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila lived in complete ignorance of what's happening around them.
On October 11, when police descended on the house the couple lived, people in their neighbourhood jolted awake for the first time, according to reports.
Just 50 metres from the house, the body of a woman identified as Padmam was unearthed.
The 52-year-old, hailing from Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri who sold lottery in Ernakulam, went missing on September 27, according The News Minute.
But Padmam was not his first victim, based on Shafi's confession to the police.
The probe into the case revealed another gruesome murder months before. In June 2022 Shafi picked up his first sacrificial victim who was another lottery ticket vendor of 49-year-old.
Rosily was reported to have gone missing in Kalady in June. TNM reported that she was killed within 24 her disappearance that day.
Shafi lured her promising 10 lakhs to act in a video and took her to Elanthoor.
Three months afterwards in September, Padmam went missing and was murdered.
How Padmam came into the trap is unknown; however instigation tracking her mobile phone and CCTV footage led the police to Shafi.
TNM reported that Padmam rented a rooming house owned by a man identified as Rijo Joseph, located near Fathima Matha Church in Elamkulam in Kochi.
Padmam occupied one of the rooms rented out to migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
She stayed there for 3-4 months in 2021 with her husband, before returning to Tamil Nadu to take care of her child.
She returned to the rooming house in February 2022 this time without her husband in tow, telling Rijo Joseph that her husband didn't accompany her for want of a job.
Rijo claimed that "Padmam was very helpful to the other residents. She never fell behind paying the rent. If someone failed to pay rent she would step in to help out. Once she paid the deposit for a family she introduced to Rijo, the report said.
Padmam Padmam would intervene and resolve any ruckus amongst tenants, he added.
One of the tenants Ramana from Andhra Pradesh said Padmam was a pious woman who performed puja in her room every morning; she lived all by herself hardly talking to others and contacted only other tenants hailing from Dharmapuri.
Three days after she went missing, he added, police searched her room and found Rs 54,000 which was given to her relatives.
Another resident Nagaraj also said they knew about her death only on Tuesday when mediapersons showed at the rooming house, according to the report.