GUWAHATI: A four-year-old girl was beheaded and her hands were chopped off in a suspected case of human sacrifice by four persons to appease god in order that one of them could find the mobile phone his daughter had lost.
The shocking incident took place in an Adivasi-majority village, Ratanpur, in Charaideo district in eastern Assam.
The sacrifice is alleged to have been out upon the urging of a man who is said to practice black magic. The police have arrested two of the accused, Hanuman Bhumij and Arif Uddin Ali. The other two, including the alleged sorcerer named Gabbar Singh and Ali’s brother Jalal Uddin, are at large.
The killing came to light on Tuesday morning and the body of the victim, Sunu Godba, was retrieved from the village.
She had been reported missing since Oct. 24.
Given the manner in which she was killed, local people suspect it was a case of human sacrifice. What strengthened their suspicion was a special puja Hanuman Bhumij performed at his house to “retrieve” the lost mobile phone of his daughter.
They caught him and Ali and beat them up before handing them over to the police. The sorcerer is an acquaintance of Ali.
Police confirmed that a sorcerer did visit the house of Bhumij to perform the puja. “We learnt that a sorcerer had come to the village to retrieve the lost mobile phone. But by the time we received a complaint from the girl’s family about her abduction, he had fled. We are looking for him and the other person, who is Ali’s brother. We will nab them soon,” Charaideo superintendent of police Mohneesh Mishra told New Indian Express.
Asked if the lost mobile phone was that of Bhumij’s daughter, Mishra said, “I can’t say but it looks like that because the puja was performed at his house”. He added that the body has been sent for an autopsy.