Express News Service By

ONGOLE: In a shocking incident, a four-year-old boy was beheaded in a case of alleged human sacrifice in an occult ritual in Pokuru SC Colony of Valetivaripallem mandal in Prakasam district on Wednesday.

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As soon as the incident came to light, enraged villagers nabbed the accused, thrashed him and set him afire accusing him of indulging in black magic. He was rescued by the police and shifted to hospital. He is said to be in a critical condition.

Based on a complaint from the victim’s mother, the Kandukur police registered a case.

According to the police, the boy, L Manusagar, son of L Mahendra and Adilakshmi, was picked up by one Tirumala Rao near the Anganwadi centre in the village, where he was studying. When her son had not returned from the Anganwadi in the afternoon, a worried Adilakshmi went there and was informed by the staff that the boy had left for home. A girl from the boy’s neighbourhood, who normally accompanies him home from school, informed the mother that he was taken away by Tirumala Rao.

She went to Tirumala Rao’s house to get her boy, but Rao not giving any reply, left the place. Suspecting something wrong, she went inside the house only to find her son’s beheaded body there.

The boy’s head was separated from the body and a utensil was filled with blood as an offering to some deity. On seeing the gruesome incident and lifeless body of her son, Adilakshmi raised a hue and cry before fainting there.

Hearing her cries, other villagers trooped in and were shocked to find the body parts of the boy there. They rushed out and after a brief search caught hold of the accused.

He was soundly thrashed by the irate villagers, who later tied him up and set him ablaze, accusing him of witchcraft and murder. Police, who rushed to the village on being alerted of the incident, with the help of some villagers rescued him and shifted him to the Kandukur Government hospital and later to Ongole RIMS, where his condition is reported to be critical.

District SP Ch Srikanth, Kandukur DSP Srinivasa Rao went to the village and inspected the spot.