A two-year-old boy was rescued from a man, who tried to sacrifice him in a bid to gain ‘paranormal powers,’ on Thursday at Kumaraswamy Layout.
Alerted by screaming women, people living in the area thrashed the man, Sumitendra Rao (54), before handing him over to the police. Rao was all set to sacrifice the boy, Vinay, to lord Hanuman, when he was thwarted.
Rao has been living in the area for the last five months. He used to play with Vinay often.
On Thursday, he took the boy from his grandmother Rajamma and took him into his house.
Rajamma grew suspicious when Rao closed the doors. Panicking, as she heard the boy cry, she rushed to the house with her daughter and Vinay’s mother, Nagaratna and peeped through the window.
They were shocked to see Rao perform a pooja placing a picture of Anjaneya. The hall was decorated with rangolis and Rao was trying to strangle the boy with a piece of red cloth.
Immediately, Nagaratna and her daughter barged in and tried to snatch the boy from him. But Rao resisted and roughed up the women.
Hearing the cries of the women, Srinivas, their relative who lives next door, rushed in and managed to rescue Vinay from Rao. Soon, people around gathered, caught hold of Rao and thrashed him black and blue.
Kala, wife of Srinivas, told Deccan Herald that Rao was behaving in a bizarre manner and kept repeating that God had ordered him to sacrifice the boy in return for immense paranormal powers.
He was ready to pay any amount of money to the family if they allowed him to sacrifice the child. “He was like a man possessed,” said a horrified Kala.
Vishwa, Vinay’s father, who works as a cab driver, told Deccan Herald that he reached the spot only after Rao was handed over to the police. “I am relieved that my child is safe. Though he has suffered no injuries, he is in shock. We will take him to a temple to ward off any evil eyes on him.”
Rao was living with his second wife Jayalakshmi (48), an ayah at Dayanand Sagar College.
Hailing from Shimoga, Rao worked as a driver and also as a cook.
According to Jayalakshmi, her husband was mentally unsound for some time. “He used to conduct poojas regularly all through the night. He also used to roam around naked. I was alarmed by his behaviour, but did not know what to do,” she said.
