india

Updated: Dec 15, 2018 22:12 IST

Fear has gripped the residents of Vakkanampatti, a tiny hamlet in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district, after a heap of human skulls were found dumped at the village graveyard in the dead of night on Thursday.

As villagers woke up on Friday, they found 45 skulls, as well as tender coconuts and incense sticks in the graveyard along the road to Jolarpet town. Since then, the villagers are very apprehensive of a bad omen befalling them.

“The skulls were placed in such a manner so as to look like a garland,” said 58-year-old S Balasubramanian, a milk vendor, who was the first to sight the skulls early on Friday morning. The graveyard, common to Hindus and Christians, is just a stone throw away from his hut in Kamarajar Nagar.

“When I started cycling towards Jolarpet town, I noticed something different at the graveyard. In the dim light, I initially thought they were to be decayed pumpkins thrown away. But, on a closer look, I found them to be skulls,” he told Hindustan Times.

On hearing his screams, the whole of Vakkanampatti gathered there. And the unprecedented sight left them rattled as well, with the arrangement of the skulls and the coconuts and incense sticks giving rise to suspicion of witchcraft.

On getting information, police rushed to the village and after a preliminary inquiry, buried the skulls in a corner of the graveyard.

But, the village, with a population of about 1000, continues to remain in the throes of fear and people are afraid to venture out not only in the night but also around noon. No one is prepared to send their girls and women out alone.

“Our village is in the foot of scenic Yelagiri hills, and hence someone performing black magic could have chosen our place. We are scared to come out late in the night even to attend nature’s call. Even we have stopped grazing our cattle in broad daylight,” village resident S Thaniyarasu told Hindustan Times.

However, M Alphonse, who runs a grocery store, is not in sync with the majority of his fellow residents, ruling out any black magic being conducted in the village.

“Kamarajar Nagar is not secluded as men and women working in Jolarpettai, Aambur and Vellore return late in the night. Sensing human activity, any godman who had conducted witchcraft in some other area on the new moon day last week could have dumped the skulls here,” he argues.

Concurring with him, local astrologer AS Ramesh said, “In the backward interiors of Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts, the poor and illiterate still have belief in black magic and occult practices. They flock to the godmen who assure prosperity and better life. Since, our place is on the fringe of Jolarpet, the skulls could have been thrown here after performing the ritual somewhere else.”

Appealing to the villagers not to be apprehensive, Tirupattur tehsildar V Sathyamoorthy said “We have informed the villagers not be afraid over this incident. We have counselled them to get rid of their unfounded fear.”

Kodiyur sub-inspector T Moorthy said that investigations were still on. On why the skulls were not taken to a forensic lab for a test, he said that they were decaying and appeared to have been dug out from graveyards as they had soil on theml.

“We are searching for the miscreants responsible and nab them soon,” he said.