JOIN USChild sacrificed for 'hidden treasure'
In a shocking incident reflecting prevalence of superstitions, a 10-year-old child was allegedly sacrificed in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli district by some people, in their bid to trace a ‘hidden treasure’ to become rich.
The child, Aman Kumar went missing from his house at Jamunapur village in the district on October 6. He had gone to see Ramlila but never returned home. His body was recovered from a ditch outside the village a few days ago.
There were injury marks all over the body. A red colour cloth, incense sticks and other articles were found near the body. It prompted police to suspect sacrifice after an exorcism attempt. On Saturday, police claim to crack the mystery and arrested three persons, including a woman, all residents of the same village.
During interrogation, they revealed that they had been told about a hidden treasure in their house by a tantrik — an exorcist. “We were told that if we sacrificed a child, we would be able to find the treasure,” they said.
The arrested said they had lured Aman to their house on October 6 night. They tied him with rope and gagged him so that he could not shout for help. He was allegedly strangled during the ritual. They dumped the body in a ditch. Police recovered Aman’s hair from the house. The killers kept digging for the elusive ‘hidden treasure’ after murdering the child but could not find.
Incidents of sacrifice keep happening in the state, especially in the rural areas, though the urban areas are no exceptions.