In a shocking incident, a three-year-old boy was allegedly killed during an occult practice and his body was buried to conceal the crime in Pinahat police station area of Agra on Sunday.
On being informed, the local police exhumed the body and were trying to ascertain the victim’s identity.
The incident came to light on early Sunday morning after the police were alerted by the locals about some suspicious activity in a jungle area near the river Chambal. A police team immediately rushed to the spot and exhumed the boy’s body and took it to a community health centre (CHC) for check-up. However, the doctors at the CHC pronounced the child dead. The body was then sent to SN Medical College hospital for post-mortem.
The presence of incense sticks, knife, spade and items related to occult practices near the spot raised suspicion of human sacrifice. The villagers informed the police that four men and a woman had buried a child after offering prayers on the night of Guru Purnima, suggesting it to be a sacrifice but facts would be confirmed only after a complete probe.
The description of the deceased has been sent to neighbouring districts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in an attempt to identify the child. So far, there is no missing complaint filed for the child in any of the police stations in Agra. An FIR was later registered at Pinahat police station on the basis of preliminary information and investigation.
The child's identity is yet to be ascertained. Those involved in the act are also unidentified as those who buried the boy’s body managed to abscond when the police came looking in the jungle but some locals are understood to have seen them. These eye witnesses are being contacted to track down the killers.
Meanwhile, a woman, in her mid-sixties, was allegedly tied up and raped in Kabrai locality of Mahoba on Monday.
After receiving information about the incident, the police reached the spot and found the victim in a critical condition with her hands and feet tied. She was rushed to a hospital for treatment. The woman identified the accused as Bharat Kushwaha (45), who was later arrested and a case was registered against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
