‘Tantrik’, 9 other villagers sacrifice child to find ‘gold treasure’ in UP’s Pilibhit

PILIBHIT: A 4-year-old boy was allegedly “sacrificed” by an occultist and nine others, who believed that the child’s death would lead them to a “gold treasure” hidden in a field somewhere in

Pilibhit district

.

The child’s mutilated body was recovered from a pond in Pilibhit’s Purniya Ramgulam village on November 18. All the accused were held on Tuesday, about nine days after the brutal murder.

Initially, local police treated it to be a case of drowning, notwithstanding the post-mortem report’s findings which had mentioned several wounds on the child’s body. It was then that the child’s father decided to take up the matter with local representative, BJP MLA from Bisalpur constituency, Ram Saran Verma, who, on his part, nudged the police brass into action.

On Tuesday, the 10 accused were taken into custody. Superintendent of police (SP) Abhishek Dixit also ordered an inquiry against the SHO of Bisalpur for his “careless” behavior. “The inquiry against the SHO would be conducted by ASP Rohit Mishra,” he said.

“We had taken 10 persons into custody. During interrogation, they confessed that the boy was sacrificed. They believed that his killing would lead them to buried gold in agricultural field somewhere,” said Praveen Malik, the circle officer of Bisalpur police station.

According to the boy’s father, the 4-year-old went missing mysteriously on November 17. “He (the child) was playing near his field with other children when he went missing,” he said.

“Despite intensive search, we didn’t find him. When we went to the police station, the SHO simply filed a missing complaint,” he said. His body was recovered from a pond the next day. “Despite visible injuries on his body and the disclosure of actual cause of death in autopsy report, police said that he died of drowning,” the child’s father said.

Meanwhile, MLA Verma has sought action against the SHO.

“This was an example of extreme negligence on part of the SHO Mani Ram. I have asked district magistrate Vaibhav Shrivastav and SP Abhishek Dixit to ensure stringent action against the officer,” Verma said.


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