A six-month-old infant was safely recovered by the Delhi Police within six hours of a complaint of her gone missing from north Delhi's Nehru Vihar area. Three persons, including her maternal uncle were arrested on Sunday for allegedly abducting the infant, selling her to a performing witchcraft in a graveyard and using the infant as a 'religious sacrifice' for their practice.
The accused were identified as Asif (22), Mohammad Illyas (35) and Dilshad (32.) "While Asif is a resident of Mustafabad, Dilshad is from Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh and Illyas is from Gaziabad," said DCP (northeast) AK Singhla.
The father of the infant, Shan Mohammad registered a complaint about her daughter gone missing and allegedly being taken away by his brother-in-law, at Khajuri Khas police station. "Mohammad said on April 14, his brother-in-law Asif took the girl away following which he and his family carried a search hunt for him," said DCP while adding, "When all their efforts went in vain, Mohammad made a PCR call and registered a complaint."
A thorough search was conducted and when the girl could not be traced, police registered a case of abduction. With the help of local intelligence, the police zeroed in on the girl's uncle Asif and during questioning it emerged that he had sold the girl to a occultist for Rs 40,000, who was about to conduct a human sacrifice ritual at a cremation ground in Ghaziabad's loni.
According to police officials, a police team laid a trap and nabbed Asif first from his residence. Dilshad and Illyas were later arrested on the instance of Asif following which it was revealed out that the infant was to be used a human sacrifice during a witchcraft practice. "Around Rs 10,000 in cash, part of the token money paid by the occultist to Asif, were recovered along with "sacrificial instruments" from the possession of the accused men, police said. Illyas, who claims himself to be a follower of 'Sufism', is married and has three children. During interrogation, he told police that the ritual was for enhancing his powers of witchcraft. He allegedly roped in others to execute the plan," said DCP who added, "The case was registered in Khajuri Khas police station under IPC section 363 (punishment for kidnapping.)"