Osmanabad: Six-year-old killed for ‘human sacrifice’; kin, tantrik arrested

Police have arrested a tantrik and his accomplice, a woman from Janata Vasahat in Pune, along with the boy’s aunt and three other relatives.

The horrific incident took place in Pimpalgaon village in Kalamb tehsil of Osmanabad district, about 290 kilometres from Pune. According to police, at about 10 am on January 26, Krushna boarded a bus to come back to his village. When he didn’t come back home by noon, his mother, Sarika, started looking for him.

In the evening, a missing complaint was registered at the Kalamb police station.

Osmanabad District Superintendent of Police, Pankaj Deshmukh, said, “Because the missing person was a minor boy, a case of kidnapping was registered as per existing guidelines and a probe was launched. Police personnel and villagers searched for the boy… his body was found in a field, not far from his house. There was a severe injury, made by a blunt object, on the back of his head. Further examination revealed injuries under his eye, made with a sharp and pointed object like a needle. It was noted that the intervening night of January 26 and 27 was a new moon night, suggesting that it could have been a case of human sacrifice.”

As police began their investigation, they came up with a long list of suspects, as most residents of the village were either related to each other or were close acquaintances. When police went through the phone call records of the suspects, the call patterns made them zero in on a man from Pune, identified as Lakhan Chudavkar, who turned out to be a self-proclaimed ‘godman’, or tantrik, who practiced ‘black magic’.

The investigation also made police focus on two of Krushna’s relatives, Uttam Ingole and Urmila Ingole. However, the initial questioning of the suspects didn’t yield much information.

Police teams then started keeping a close watch on the movements of some more relatives of the victim. On April 10, the probe led police to Draupadi Poul, the paternal aunt of the boy, and his relative Sahebrao Ingole. Both of them were arrested on Wednesday.

Osmanabad DSP Pankaj Deshmukh added, “The arrest of Draupadi Poul was the key development in the case. A family member of hers had died some 10 or 12 years ago, and since then the family believed, or was made to believe that they were under the ill effect of some spirit. The tantrik was contacted by the family… he suggested that they set up a tombstone for the deceased woman… he told them that if they sprinkled the blood of a young boy while building it, the family’s problems would be solved. The tantrik has been arrested. The accused have confessed to the crime and we have also found the spot where they had started the construction of a tombstone.”

On Thursday, police arrested the sixth suspect in the case, a woman from Pune, who was allegedly an accomplice of Chudavkar, and lived with him in Janata Vasahat.

Inspector Sunil Nevate from Kalamb police station said, “The woman, along with Chudavkar, used to tell the family about these superstitious practices. The six have been booked under The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013’, and also for murder.

Dr Hameed Dabholkar, from the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), said, “Even after the Act has been passed, the state has seen human sacrifice cases… some have also been prevented. It is important that aware citizens and police come together to prevent such heinous acts.”

Kiran Sagar, general secretary of MANS in the Marathwada region, said, “We have reasons to believe that in many cases, a death is reported as just a murder, but it has a black magic angle. It is important that people are vigilant about the suspicious movements of people, which point to superstitious acts, and alert police or organisations like us so that we can act on these cases.”