BENGALURU: Twenty-one-year-old carpenter Bijoy Naik, who on Friday had claimed that four masked men had abducted him and cut his tongue and private part, told the police on Sunday that he had slashed himself to make an offering to Goddess Durga to gain mystical powers.
A senior police officer said that Naik, a native of Odisha, has recovered from his injuries. Doctors, who stitched his tongue, also spoke to him and he is able to communicate. “One of our officers, Somashekar, communicated with him in Hindi and recorded his statement. He also wrote down his statement on what led him to do so,” the officer said.
“Naik said he was worshiping Goddess Durga for the last five years and would meditate for about 36 hours in a week. He is a Class 9 dropout and knows reading and writing Hindi. So he gave his statement in Hindi. Naik had watched a Hindi movie in which an astrologer offered his finger to Durga to acquire some powers. Inspired by this, Naik slashed himself to gain such powers,” the officer said.
Bijoy’s elder brother, also a labourer, told Whitefield police that his behaviour was not normal for the last few months. He use to wake in the late night screaming. His parents also were informed about this. He claimed to be an ardent devotee of Goddess Durga and wanted to acquire powers to predict the future of his fellow-workers. Thus, he was always carrying a lemon and vermilon in his pocket and bag, the brother said.
“We yet to ascertain if Naik was advised by any astrologer to do so,” the police officer added.