Magadi, Mar 6: In a horrific case of superstition, seven people, including the victim’s paternal uncle, were arrested after police solved the murder of a 10-year-old girl from Karnataka who was allegedly sacrificed to cure her sick uncle. The girl went missing from her home in Ramanagara on March 1 and was found murdered in a sack behind a mosque near Hosahalli on the outskirts of the city on Friday, March 3. Also Read - Before Reporting For Duty, This Bengaluru Cop Teaches Children of Migrant Workers Everyday For An Hour

The angle of human sacrifice was probed when the police reportedly recovered a lock of hair, turmeric, and lemon from the bag. “The girl, Ayesha was brutally murdered as she had been sacrificed for a black magic ritual. We are probing all angles,” said a Magadi police officer. The police based on information given by Ayesha’s father Mohammed Nurulla Gulab arrested her uncle Mohammed Wasil (42) secretary of a local mosque in Bengaluru, Rasheedunissa (38), Naseem Taj (33), and a juvenile on charges of murdering her on March 1. Also Read - Bengaluru: Dunzo, Rapido Delivery Boys Arrested For Supplying Marijuana, Synthetic Drugs

As per the reports, the girl’s relatives and her parents were involved in a dispute over property. During interrogation, the seven confessed to the murder. “Wasil (her uncle) hatched the murder plan after he was advised by Naseem Taj, a resident of Goripalya, who allegedly practiced black magic,” the police said. “Naseem Taj suggested that Wasil’s brother Mohammed Rafiq could be cured of paralytic stroke if a girl was sacrificed. She had suggested that Rafiq had been gripped by evil spirits and paralysed, and to be cured of this, he had to sacrifice a minor girl within 40 days,” the police added. Also Read - Watch | Congress Leader Kavitha Reddy Apologises For ‘Moral-Policing’ Kannada Actress Samyuktha Hegde

Following Naseem’s advice to sacrifice a girl, Wasil clicked a picture of Ayesha and sent it to Taj for her approval. After her approval, on March 1, when Ayesha was returning home from her father’s shop, Wasil and a boy kidnapped her covering her mouth with a piece of cloth and plastic.

Further investigation revealed that the juvenile Wasil was the last person seen with Ayesha. The phone records were also verified. Upon interrogation, Wasil confessed to the crime.

“The accused took her to a tomb on Hosahalli road and slit her throat after performing a ritual,” said Ramanagaram SP Ramesh Bannoth, reports The Hindu. The accused Wasil later lugged her body in a sack and dumped it behind a mosque.

While the family searched for the missing girl, Wasil also accompanied them. The police also said that Wasil had also accompanied the family to the police station to file a complaint.

“Wasil even prayed for the girl’s safe return and helped make an announcement about her missing at the nearby mosque,” said Reshma Taj, Ayesha’s aunt.

Meanwhile, the residents of Magadi staged a roadblock demanding action against the accused uncle.