JHARKHAND: An eight-year-old girl was allegedly strangled to death by three of her relatives as part of a human sacrifice ritual on Kali Puja in Jharkhand's Chatra district, police said on November 14, Saturday. Three people, including the victim's aunt, have been arrested in connection with the murder.
According to Chatra Superintendent of Police Animesh Naithany, the girl went missing on November 8. After failing to trace her, her mother lodged a missing person's complaint at Pratappur police station on November 11. Her body was recovered from a paddy field around 150 metres from her house on November 13.
Police said the investigation revealed that the murder was allegedly motivated by superstition, with the accused purportedly believing that the sacrifice would help them attain spiritual powers.
The victim's aunt allegedly practised witchcraft and sorcery at home and, along with her husband's elder brother and nephew, committed the crime on the night of Amavasya. The SP also said an old enmity between the accused and the victim's family could have been another motive behind the killing.
During the investigation, police recovered several items from the accused's house, including a blood-stained sickle, a trowel, an iron chisel, broken red bangles, blood-stained Palash leaves and the victim's clothes. Vermilion, perfume, rose water, incense and turmeric, allegedly used in the ritual, were also seized.
Naithany further alleged that the accused assaulted the girl's genitals with a bamboo stick to make the crime appear to be a case of sexual violence.
Police said the three accused had confessed to the crime and are also searching for a cleric from Bihar who allegedly trained them. The victim was allegedly strangled before her body was dumped in the paddy field, police said.
(With inputs from media reports)