A man practising black magic stole the body of a newborn from the grave in a village in Sambhal district on Sunday.

He was arrested by the police and presented before the court on Monday. The court sent him to jail.

Reports said that the incident took place in Shahbazpur Kalan village under Asmoli police station of Sambhal on Sunday morning.

The accused, identified as Azam, stole the body of a newborn from the grave and was caught red-handed by the locals.

Sources said that the local villagers caught the man and beat him severely.

The locals in Shahbazpur Kalan village said that earlier too there had been cases of theft of dead bodies from graves.

It is learnt that Aasmeen, wife of Bilal’s son Akhtar Hussain, who lives in Shahbazpur Kalan village, gave birth to a baby on Friday night. When the newborn’s health started deteriorating, the family took the infant to the village for treatment where the newborn died. The newborn was buried in the graveyard of Shahbazpur Kalan village on Saturday morning.

Bilal said that his elder brother, Mohammad Yusuf, reached the grave of the newborn on Sunday after fajr (predawn) prayers to offer fatiha, As Yousuf entered the graveyard, he saw the accused taking out the body of the newborn from the grave. Yousuf raised an alarm following which other people also reached there and beat the accused.

The locals caught the accused and later informed the police and the cops arrested him.

Bilal said the accused used to perform black magic for which he stole the bodies from the graveyard.

The police registered an FIR based on Bilal’s complaint and after completing the legal action, the accused was sent to jail by a local court.

Meanwhile in Banda, a family attempted to drive away a cobra from their home with smoke by burning cow dung and ended up setting their own house on fire, the police said on Monday.

The incident took place in Banda district on Sunday evening when the family spotted a cobra in their home. To drive away the snake, the family started burning cow dung to create smoke but the fire spread, engulfing the entire house. The family’s cash, jewellery and several quintals of grain were reduced to ashes.

Rajkumar, who works as a labourer in Delhi, lived in the house with his wife and five children.

On getting information, the local police and fire brigade teams rushed to the scene and managed to control the fire.

The Revenue Department was also informed and is currently assessing the extent of the damage.