Body Of 3-Year-Old Found Buried In Forest After Allegedly Being Killed In Occult Ritual

The body of a 3-year-old boy who was allegedly sacrificed in an occult ritual has been found buried in a forest.

Police exhumed the child's body from a village near Agra, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday night after some villagers informed them of a suspected human sacrifice in the area. Investigators are now trying to determine the identity of the child, reported news outlet India Today.

The child's body has been sent for autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. Based on preliminary information gathered, police have registered a case and have started an investigation.

"Police reached the spot on receiving information from villagers and dug the area. Subsequently, the body of a three-year-old boy was found buried," Ashok Venkat, superintendent of police, said as per Hindustan Times.

According to villagers, they saw four people, including a woman, visiting the area to perform occult rituals. Before the child's body was found, villagers reportedly recovered a knife, spade and certain items believed to be used for witchcraft from the area.

However, police said the possibility of human sacrifice could only be established after an investigation.

"The child's identity is yet to be ascertained. Those involved in the act are also unidentified and absconding but some locals are understood to have seen them. We are trying to contact the eye-witnesses in order to trace the culprits," India Today quoted Muniraj G, senior superintendent of police, as saying.

According to an India Today report, occult practices continue to kill people in India. The country's National Crime Records Bureau, which began compiling separate data on human sacrifice in 2014, said 52 people had died of such rituals as of 2018. Most of the victims were reportedly minors. A total of 425 people died due to witchcraft from 2014 to 2016.

Earlier this month, a 5-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh was reportedly hacked to death as part of an occult ritual sacrifice. The investigation began after the girl's parents reported the child missing.

Police arrested a woman and her daughter in connection with the incident. During interrogation, the suspects, who were the victim's neighbors, confessed to slitting the child's throat and dumping her body in a sewer. Investigation revealed that they had been advised by a sorcerer to perform the human sacrifice to find a buried treasure.