Thiruvananthapuram,  The Kerala Police probe team, which earlier this week arrested three persons in the case of suspected human sacrifice of two women in Pathanamthitta district, on Thursday decided to probe the case of 12 missing women.

The police officials, according to sources, have decided to reopen 12 cases in which women from the district have gone missing from 2017 onwards.

The present case saw the arrest of three persons, including the prime accused and a couple, Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila. Mohammed Shafi, as per the police, was a psychopath and a sexual pervert, and the couple used to run a massage centre in their house near Aranmula in the district.

It was Shafi, the mastermind, who brought the two women, the first one in June and the second one in September to the house of the couple under the pretext of shooting a film. Each of the two women, both lottery sellers in Ernakulam district, where Shafi resides, were offered good money.

Shafi had befriended Bhagaval Singh through social media in 2019 and convinced the couple to offer a human sacrifice that would bring them exalted status.

Even though a missing case was registered in August after the daughter of Rosyln -- the first woman of the two to go missing -- the police at Ernakulam were unable to make any headway. When another woman went missing on September 26 and a missing case was registered, the police probed quickly and found the gory activities of the three.