Pathanamthitta : An eight-year-old girl. her mother and grandmother were held captives at house of a woman witchcraft practiconer in Malayalapuzha in Pathanamthitta. DYFI workers in the region came together and freed them from captivity.
Shobana, a resident of Pothipaad, was known to practice witchcraft and other bizarre rituals at her house named “Vasanthi Mattom” Shobana’s husband Unnikrishnan, a Pathinapuram native has spent time in jail. Shobana had lured wife of Unnikrishnan’s cellmate Aneesh, promising benefits of witchcraft. Locked up for 10 days without food or toilet facilities were Aneesh’s wife Shuba(34) her eight-year-old daughter and Shuba’s mother Esther. Shubha said the child, with no facility to urinate or empty bowels, was also beaten up during captivity. The word on odd happenings got around and CPI(M) workers in the area organised rescue, freeing all three.
Shobana and her husbanded were previously remanded for witchcraft rituals they had performed using a child in October of 2022. At that time, Aneesha and his wife Shuba were also in prison for a financial fraud they had done. Based on this jail time acquaintance. Shobana and her husband Unnikrishnan had asked Aneesh’s family over to their house “Vasanthi Mattom” and claimed they had lend Aneesh Rs. 3 lakhs to help with his financial distress. Aneesh’s family members were locked up in the house as the money because he failed to return the money, claimed Shobana. But police are not convinced of that story because Shuba’s version has all indications that the child was meant for some sort of witchcraft ritual.
The news had spread locally that a eight-year-old girl was locked up in a house and CPI(M), DYFI members organised rescue. CPI(M) Local secretary S Biju, DYFI district committee member V Sivakumar, local committee member Mithun R Nair, panchayat members M Manjesh, Rajneesh, CDS chairperson A Jalajakumari, vice chairperson KG Pramila, DYFI regional president Vineet Vasudevan, Mahila Association members Sreelata, Sindhu, Reshma Ramesh, Reshma R Nair and branch secretaries Manu Mohan and Sunilkumar arrived at Vasanthi Mattom, rescuing all three of Aneesh's family.
Malayalapuzha SIT Aneesh led the police over and shifted Shuba, her daughter and Aneesh’s mother to police station and registered case against Shobana and Unnikrishnan.
