Guwahati police arrested five in human sacrifice incident near Kamakhya temple in 2019

Police in Guwahati on Tuesday said they arrested five persons in connection with an incident of human sacrifice which occurred near the ancient Kamakhya temple here during the annual Ambubachi Mela in July 2019.

The five persons were arrested in the past one month from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.

Police here registered a case in July 2019 after a beheaded body of a woman from Bengal's Hooghly district was found abandoned on the staircase of another temple atop Nilachal Hills in Guwahati, where the ancient Kamakhya temple is situated. During investigation, police identified the body of Shanti Shaw, a 64-year-old woman from Tantipara village in Hooghly district of Bengal.

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"Interrogation of the arrested persons and the investigation so far revealed that it was a case of human sacrifice. They told us that the woman was killed in order to appease Goddess Kamakhya. All of them believe in Tantric practices and practice blind faith," Guwahati Police Commissioner, Diganta Barah told reporters on Tuesday.

Barah said the case was reopened as part of their efforts to solve the cases of heinous crime in Guwahati and the five persons were arrested in connection with the case in the past one month.

Barah said following media reports about recovery of the woman's body, her son Suresh Shaw came to Guwahati and identified the body on July 28, 2019. Police, however, could not move further into the case then.

Kamakhya is one of the major Shakti Peethas and the annual Ambubachi Mela attracts more than 10 to 12 lakh devotees from across India and abroad every year.

The five have been identified as Mata Prasad Pandey alias Mateswar Giri (a tantric baba), Suresh Paswan, Kanu Acharjee, Pradip Pathak and Raju Baba. Pandey hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh while Raju Baba told police that he is a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The remaining three are from Assam, Barah said.

The city police commissioner said the woman was not aware of their plan and took part in the puja, which they performed on the night of July 18 at the Bhootnath crematorium situated down the Nilachal Hill. "We got information that 12 persons attended the puja at Bhootnath. But we are trying to identify the remaining seven. They consumed alcohol and meat while performing the rituals. Later they went up to Nilachal Hills in two cars and again consumed alcohol while performing puja in a crematorium near Bagala temple. Later they came near the Durga temple, where the woman was beheaded with a sharp weapon which they bought from Fancy Bazar market," Barah said.