Teen Sacrificed 'To Cure Mental Illness' Of 3 Other Children

Three members of a family were arrested Sunday after they sacrificed a 15-year-old boy on the advice of an occultist. The incident took place in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh earlier month.

In a statement Wednesday police said the family killed the victim, a boy who lived in the same village, in order to cure their children of mental illness.

“A family of Tharupur village approached an occultist to get their children cured of mental illness around a month ago. He gave them a choice between animal and human sacrifice. The family chose to sacrifice Divakar Yadav, a boy of the same village, as they could not arrange a pair of oxen,” police said, adding that three children of the family suffered from mental illness.

Police said the investigators suspected occult link after seeing the condition of the victim’s body. The exact date of the incident was not known.

“The body was draped in a red saree with vermillion applied on his forehand. He was also wearing bangles. It appeared that the boy was strangled, then his body dressed as a woman before being hung from a tree in the forest,” police said.

Three members of the family were taken into custody and charged with murder Sunday. The oculist, however, remained at large as of Wednesday.

“Many villagers confirmed that he used to visit the house before Divakar Yadav was abducted and killed,” police said.

In a similar incident in the Indian state of Assam in July, villagers foiled a family’s attempt to sacrifice a three-year-old child. Villagers saw smoke coming from the home and alerted the police. On a closer look, the villagers saw the family placing the child in the altar while chanting prayers. They then noticed a priest standing beside them, ready to behead the child with a sword. The villagers managed to enter the home and rescue the child following which the family started attacking the villagers with sharp weapons.