india

Updated: Sep 22, 2019 16:58 IST

In a bizarre incident that shocked residents of Niranjanbar village in the Kharagpur area of Bengal’s West Midnapore district on Saturday night, a seven-year-old boy was killed, allegedly by a teenager who wanted to be a witch doctor by offering a human sacrifice.

Hours after seven-year-old Rudra Nayak went missing, he was found in a pool of blood inside the house of his neighbour, a 14-year-old boy. Doctors at Kharagpur State Hospital declared Rudra dead on arrival.

Niranjanbar village, around 120 km from Kolkata, is located close to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. The incident triggered a furore with villagers staging an agitation outside the local Sadatpur police outpost on Sunday demanding that the accused and his parents be handed over to them.

“We have arrested the minor who allegedly killed the seven-year-old. Acting on allegation that black magic was practiced at the house of the accused we have started an investigation and detained seven people,” Dinesh Kumar, superintendent of police, West Midnapore said.

“My son went out to play in the afternoon but did not return home on time. When we started looking for him someone told us that Rudra was seen entering the house of the accused. When we went there the family initially denied seeing my son. Later, we found him in a room. The accused said he was doing black magic when two men came from heaven and took away my son,” Ratan Nayak, father of the deceased said.

“The accused told us that he had seen members of his family practicing black magic and tried to follow in their footsteps. On Saturday, he called Rudra saying he would perform a puja and give him ‘prasad.’ He told us that he tied up the boy and started beating him,” an officer at Kharagpur police station said.

The minor’s hands and legs were tied when his parents found him. After the boy was declared dead local people stormed the house of the accused. Police had a difficult time taking the 14-year-old and his family members out of the village.