

BHUBANESWAR: In a chilling incident of alleged child sacrifice, police on Sunday arrested Bankanidhi Behera on charges of strangulating a 7-year-old boy to death at Jhalipadar village in Balangir district.

Hrusikesh Das, on whose advice Behera killed the boy, was also nabbed.

Police said Behera, 28, a kerosene trader, was ailing for past some months. Despite taking medicines, his health condition didn't improve. He also went to Visakhapatnam for treatment. According to villagers, he was behaving strangely after returning from there. He then visited Das, a sorcerer, at Khariar, hoping for a remedy.

"The sorcerer told him that until he killed a boy and threw his body in a pond, he would continue to suffer. He did that," said SP (Balangir) Deepak Kumar.

"Behera confessed to have killed the boy," said a police officer. Behera took the boy on the pretext of visiting a nearby market.

He fled after killing the boy, four km from his house, police said. The victim's mother lodged a complaint at Bongamunda police station after her son didn't return home by Saturday evening.

"As we conducted a search in nearby areas, we found the body floating in a pond. Police nabbed Behera from Khariar in Nuapada district," said the officer.

