An eight-year-old girl was killed by her relatives as part of a human sacrifice ritual during Kali Puja in Jharkhand's Chatra district, police said, according to news agency Press Trust of India.Three people have been arrested in connection with the case. Police said the girl was strangled during the ritual and her body was dumped in a paddy field.SP Animesh Naithany told PTI that the girl went missing on November 8.
After she could not be traced, her mother lodged a missing person complaint at Pratappur police station on November 11."Her body was recovered from a paddy field on November 13, around 150 metres from her house," Naithany said. He said the investigation revealed that the child was killed because of superstition. "The victim's aunt practised witchcraft and sorcery at home.
She, along with her husband's elder brother and nephew, sacrificed the girl on the night of Amavasya to attain spiritual powers," Naithany said.The police officer said the accused also had an old enmity with the girl's family. Police said they recovered a blood-stained sickle, a trowel, an iron chisel, broken red bangles, blood-stained leaves of the Palash tree, the girl's clothes, vermilion, perfume, rose water, incense and turmeric from the accused's house.
The items were used in the ritual.Naithany further alleged that the accused assaulted the girl's genitals with a bamboo stick to make it appear that she had suffered sexual violence."All three have admitted to the crime. We are also searching for a Maulvi (cleric) from Bihar who trained the accused," he told PTI.Police said the girl was strangled by three relatives during the ritual before her body was left in the paddy field.
The three accused have been arrested, while a search is under way for the cleric who allegedly trained them.- Ends(With PTI inputs)