By IANS
Nagpur : The main suspect in a human sacrifice case in a village in Maharashtra’s Amravati district has confessed to the crime, the police said Sunday.
The suspect, Manisha Andhale, in whose house the charred body of a 28-year-old unmarried woman was found Thursday, told the police she had killed mentally challenged Sunita Mahajan to propitiate a deity in the belief that she would get wealth, Police Inspector A.P. Avachar told IANS.
The incident, which occurred in Papal village, has rocked the entire district.
The police have also arrested curd vendor Rajendra Munde, a ‘tantrik’ (black magic practitioner), from nearby Rajna village on the basis of Manisha’s statement.
Manisha, the mother of three, told the police she hit Sunita on the head with an axe and a pestle as per the tantrik’s instructions after performing puja Thursday, the new-moon day of Mahashivaratri.
The tantrik has, however, denied being present in the Andhale household that day or having any knowledge about the gory incident.
Munde had got in touch with the Andhale family a year ago after performing a ritual in their home to trace Manisha, who had disappeared a few days earlier.
Villagers, who informed the police after seeing smoke billowing out from Andhales’ house March 6, later found Manisha, with bloodstains on her saree, hiding in the bushes some distance away from her home.
Manisha’s husband Rajendra was at Nandgaon Khandeshwar, the sub-district headquarters, about 15 km from Papal, moving a bail application for a friend when the gruesome incident took place back home.
While Manisha’s youngest daughter Rupali had gone to the village temple to watch the Mahashivaratri festival, her elder brother had gone to attend a computer class. Manisha’s eldest son studies in a junior college in Amravati, 40 km from Papal.
Villagers seeking help of black magic performers for finding a missing person, curing illness or settling scores with enemies is common but this is the first incident of “human sacrifice” in the area in recent times, Avachar said.