Kin detained as boy dies, cops probe tantrik angle

Hooghly: Tension gripped Badhagachhi village near Hooghly's Guptipara on Sunday after a 4-year-old boy who had gone missing was found unconscious at his paternal grandparents' house, and later pronounced dead. The grandparents and aunt of Swarnabha Saha have been detained for questioning and police are also probing the alleged involvement of a tantrik.Cops said Swarnabha had left home on Saturday around 10am to play. When he didn't return, family members and locals started a search but failed to find him. The matter was conveyed to Balagarh police station, who deployed drones and a sniffer dog, but there was no trace of the child. His father, Jadav Saha, who works as a driver, arrived from Howrah while the search was on and the family lodged an abduction complaint.As police maintained overnight surveillance, Swarnabha's grandfather allegedly found his grandson unconscious in the bathroom around 3am. The boy was rushed to a local block hospital, where he was pronounced dead.A preliminary probe revealed that there had been a prolonged dispute within the family. During interrogation, it emerged that Swarnabha's grandfather had visited a local tantrik's house near Bandel on Saturday evening. Hooghly rural police SP Kamanashis Sen said the tantrik would be interrogated to determine whether he had anything to do with the child going missing.Police are also looking into how Swarnabha was found in the bathroom when nobody saw him enter the house and cops were posted outside.
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