Three people were arrested in Bahraich District of India's Uttar Pradesh (UP) state for allegedly killing a 10-year-old boy as a human sacrifice on the advice of an occultist.
On Friday, police found a corpse lying in a field in the morning with a slit on the throat, following which an official complaint was registered against unknown people.
Upon further investigation, police found that the deceased had a two-and-a-half-year-old mentally ill cousin. His father, Anoop (police shared first name only), had consulted astrologers and occultists because the child could not recover despite undergoing doctor’s treatment.
An occultist then suggested them a human sacrifice, by killing someone with a spade.
According to police, three accused — Anoop, Chintaram (Anoop’s brother) and the occultist- have been arrested in the case.
According to official statistics, in 2021 a total of five people died because of human sacrifices and 68 deaths were linked to witchcraft.