The mystery behind the gruesome murder of a nine-year-old minor boy missing since October 13, hailing from Sindhekela village, whose beheaded body was found a few days back from a riverside in Gandhala village of Bolangir district, was finally resolved by the Odisha police.
The decapitated body of the minor, who has been identified as Ghanshyam Rana, was reportedly sacrificed by his uncle, Kunja Rana who is an occultist, and his cousin brother Sambhaban Rana, a believer of black magic. The duo reportedly practised black magic on the minor boy and subsequently sacrificed him as part of a ritual to appease Goddess Durga during Durga Puja.
According to police, both the accused have been arrested and have admitted to the crime.
In August 2017, another man allegedly sacrificed his 10-year-old son on the first day of Navratra “to make my Devi happy.” In November, a man killed his 13-year-old son in Chhattisgarh’s Baloda Bazaar district and chopped off his genitals after a witch doctor convinced him that sacrificing his son will solve all his problems.
In December same year, a six-year-old girl was found murdered with her throat slit in east Delhi’s Gazipur dairy farm area. The father has suspected ‘black magic’ to be the be the reason for her murder as a piece of flesh in the neck area was missing.
In January 2016, it was reported how a Chhattisgarh man had killed his 14-year-old son for the “well-being of his family”.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started compiling separate data on human sacrifice since 2014. Altogether 52 persons were reported to have been “sacrificed” to appease some god. 16 in 2014, 24 in 2015 and 12 in 2016. Most of the victims have been minors. Besides, 156 people were killed due to witchcraft in 2014, 135 in 2015 and 134 in 2016.