NEW DELHI: Police in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh arrested five people, including three teachers, after a schoolboy was killed in a crime of human sacrifice.
The incident took place at a school in the district of Hathras, about 180 km from New Delhi.
The boy, aged 11, was strangled to death on Sunday after the school principal chose to “sacrifice” him in a tantric ritual, believing it would bring financial prosperity and fame to his school as well as family, local media reported on Friday, citing police.
The child was kidnapped from the hostel after school owner Jasodhan Singh, a believer in black magic and tantric rituals asked his son Dinesh Baghel, who is the school’s director, to carry out a human sacrifice, the reports said.
Two teachers and school principal Laxman Singh were also involved in the crime and were among those arrested.
Superstitions are common in Indian society, but extreme cult practices like tantrism and black magic can involve deviant sex, violence, murder, mutilation of limbs, and occasional human sacrifice.
