india

Updated: Nov 01, 2016 16:16 IST

A 4-year-old girl was allegedly beheaded and offered as sacrifice by a ‘tantrik’ (witch doctor) in Assam to trace a lost mobile phone.

The body of the girl, missing since October 24, was recovered on Monday afternoon from a forest near her home in Ratanpur tea estate in Charaideo district of upper Assam. Her severed head and arms were found nearby. Police said there was no sign of sexual assault on the victim.

The victim, who belongs to an Adivasi community, was allegedly tortured and beheaded by the witch doctor to be able to retrieve the lost mobile phone of one Hanuman Bhumij’s daughter.

Police arrested Bhumij and another suspect Ariful Ali, identified as the ‘tantrik’ assistant, after locals caught both men hours after the girl went missing. The main accused, Abdul Jalil, is absconding.

“Bhumij had approached the witch doctor to recover the mobile phone. We are investigating allegations that the girl was abducted and sacrificed with the hope of recovering the phone,” Prasanta Phukan, in-charge of Sonari police station told HT. The two men taken into custody have not confessed, police said.