Elanthoor human sacrifice leads Ponnani police to uncover a love story & close 18-yr-old missing case

A probe into two cases of missing women unravelled the blood-curdling episode of the Elanthoor human sacrifice in 2022. Three years on, Ponnani Police, who acted on a state-wide directive to reopen long-pending missing cases of women following the Elanthoor murder, recently solved an 18-year-old missing case, locating the woman in the neighbouring Kozhikode district.

The directive to revisit long-pending missing-women cases in Kerala came in the aftermath of the shocking 2022 case in Pathanamthitta, where the disappearance of two women — Roslyn (49) and Padmam (52) — led police to uncover their murders. The crime took place at the residence of the accused — Bhagaval Singh, a traditional healer — and his wife Laila. They, along with Mohammed Shafi, another accused, were arrested in October of the same year. 

Ponnani police also began looking into old cases. They came across one about a 24-year-old woman from Edappal, who had gone missing in May 2007 while working as an assistant at a local clinic. The doctor from the same clinic, then around 30, had also vanished at the same time.

Police suspected the two had eloped, but the absence of photographs, limited mobile phone use, and a lack of CCTV surveillance then made the investigation nearly impossible. Her brother then filed a complaint at the Ponnani Police Station, and although the police actively searched for months, the case was eventually closed due to a lack of evidence.

“When we reopened the file, there were no photographs at all. We don’t know if they were never taken or lost over time,” says P Prasanth Kumar, Civil Police Officer at Ponnani and a member of the reinvestigation team. “Her family also believed she had eloped with the doctor, and the case had gone cold after the initial search.”

Under the instructions of Malappuram District Police Chief R Viswanath, officers began reviewing all long-pending cases. For months, the team found no leads. Then, about a month ago, a relative informed police that the missing woman had been seen in Edappal eight months earlier, attending a funeral. She stayed there only briefly. 

Police traced the woman who had informed her about the death and found it was her niece from Edappal. “She had maintained contact only with her niece,” says Prasanth. “Through her, we obtained a phone number that eventually led us to Kozhikode.” There, officers discovered the woman had been living peacefully for seven years with her husband, the same doctor she had eloped with.

His family had accepted their relationship, and soon after leaving Kerala in 2007, the couple married and lived in Gujarat for some time before settling in Kozhikode. "They had no criminal involvement and were leading a quiet life. We don't want to disturb their lives," says Prasanth.

“When we contacted them, they were hesitant and asked us not to disturb their lives,” Prasanth recalls. “But once we explained that we simply needed to close the long-pending case, they cooperated. They visited the police station, completed the legal procedures, and appeared in court.”

Both of the woman’s parents have since passed away, leaving only her brother. He was called to identify her, and the confirmation finally allowed the case to be formally closed. The siblings had a brief reunion after nearly two decades.

“This case was solved solely because of the review initiated after the Elanthoor incident,” Prasanth notes. “We reopened a few other such cases as well, but none yielded results,”

The team that traced the woman after 18 years included Ponnani Inspector S Asharaf (team lead), Sub-Inspector C V Bibin, State Special Branch Sub-Inspector N Sudheer, and Senior Civil Police Officers S Prasanth Kumar, V Rejin, and K N Rathika.