NUAPADA: In a gruesome incident, an 11-year-old boy was beheaded by his uncle in a suspected case of human sacrifice. The incident took place at Jadamunda village under Komna police limits on Saturday.
The accused, Chintamani Majhi (48), allegedly sacrificed his nephew as an “offering” as a part of crop harvest ritual in their village.
Sources said the victim, 11-year-old Dhansing Majhi, had gone to his farmland. Chintamani then lured him to his field and hacked him to death. The villagers alerted the police. Inspector-in-charge of Komna police station P Panigrahi said the accused has been detained.
Chintamani confessed that he sacrificed his nephew as an offering for ‘Choru’, a local term referring to sacrifice offered to deities for bountiful harvest before the start of the new cropping season.
While mostly domestic animals are sacrificed for the purpose, what led Chintamani to sacrifice his nephew has not yet been ascertained.
“We are still interrogating him to find if he had any other reasons behind the sacrifice. He will be arrested and forwarded to court tomorrow,” Panigrahi added.