Kerala 'human sacrifice' case: Accused Muhammed Shafi was arrested in 2020 rape case

KOCHI: It was not the first time Muhammed Shafi alias Rashid (52) had committed a heinous crime. In 2020, he had brutally raped a 75-year-old woman at Puthencruz and the police had arrested him.
The woman was hospitalized and ended up in the ICU; later she returned to normal life after several days of treatment.

When this incident occurred, Shafi was working as a truck driver.A woman named Omana used to arrange prostitutes for her customers and she had arranged one for Shafi. However, she didn't show up and instead an elderly, forgetful woman was misled and she went with him. Shafi raped her at Omana's house and later Omana's son found her at home in an exhausted state and he too brutally attacked her.

Shafi was arrested and put in prison for nearly a year before securing bail. Police are investigating his antecedents. Deputy SP Sajan Xavier, who arrested Shafi when he was Puthencruz CI, remembered him as a brute who used to sexually abuse woman aged over 50.
"We completed the investigation in that case and the trial was set to begin. When we arrested him, he was a driver and it seems that he has moved on to other activities now. It seems like a perversion as he is targeting women in this particular age group for torture," he said.