'Came for Shani Amavasya ritual': Mantrik murders woman, her male kin after rape bid

NASHIK: Nizampur police in Dhule have arrested a mantrik (practitioner of religious rituals) for allegedly throttling to death a 33-year-old woman after she fought off his attempt to sexually assault her, and later killing her male relative to cover up the crime.

The incident took place in Sakri taluka’s Jaitane village on Saturday. Police have arrested the accused, Yogesh Khairnar. Additional SP Ajay Deore said the woman, a finance firm executive and her relative had approached Khairnar for a ‘Shani amavasya’ ritual.

After the puja, he told the man to wait at the temple, and said he would dropped the woman home.

“She left with the mantrik on her scooter, but on the way, he got her to stop the two-wheeler and tried to force himself on her,” Deore said.

Cop: Mantrik panicked when victim raised alarm

Additional SP Ajay Deore said, “The mantrik panicked when she raised an alarm and throttled her to death before returning to the temple.”

The Nizampur police, while investigating the case of a woman found dead by the roadside with her two-wheeler and ornaments intact, learnt that she had been to visit the mantrik.

“A police team reached the Jaitane temple and questioned the mantrik, who confessed to the crime. When asked about the whereabouts of the woman’s relative, the mantrik admitted that he quarrelled with the man too, as the latter kept asking him why it took him so long to return to the temple. Khairnar claimed that he had fatally hit the relative with a blunt object. In fact, he was preparing to bury the body on his farm when the police reached,” Deore said.

The police have registered a case under BNS sections 103 (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).
Khairnar runs a cow shelter and a small temple on his farm. The temple is frequented by local residents for rituals, which the mantrik performs.