A special investigation team of police officers is looking into what appears to be a "human sacrifice" case in the Pathanamthitta district of India’s Kerala state.
Joined by a group of forensic experts and sniffer dogs, officials examined the suspects' house amid concerns that more bodies could have been buried there.
The three people apprehended by the police are Mohammad Shafi, Bhagaval Singh, and his wife Laila. They were all present at the scene. A local man earlier assisted the police in excavating the land and exhuming the bodies of the two females.
A police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying that the accused were evading questions and trying to misguide investigators.
However, the police suspect that the citizens could be involved in more such killings.
"All three accused are not revealing anything substantial in this regard. But we doubt the worst as the main accused Mohammad Shafi alias Rasheed had traveled across the state in search of possible victims," the SIT official said.
During the last five years, 12 women have gone missing in Pathanamthitta and 14 from the nearby Ernakulam district. Police officials reckon that there could be a link between these cases and the "human sacrifice" currently being investigated.