Angul: Police questioned six persons in connection with the killing of a minor boy at Subarnapur village under Athmallik block in Odisha’s Angul district, a source said Sunday.
According to the source, police questioned a sorcerer named Gitanjali Bag among the six detainees. The cops are looking into the relationship between a local religious institution and Gitanjali in the backdrop of a suspected human sacrifice of the minor.
Notably, a minor named Sanjeev Biswal (13) was missing since July 23. His mutilated body was found hanging from a tree in Bareni forest July 28.
The source said that the boy was suffering from certain health issues for several days before his death.
Sanjeev’s mother Basanti July 22 had taken him to the local religious institution at Tusar village to perform certain rituals for her son’s wellbeing. The mother-son duo slept on premises of the institution after performing the rituals in the evening. However, Basanti could not find her son the next morning, the source added.
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Afterwards, Basanti approached Kiakata Police Station and registered an FIR. Later, the cops launched a search operation to trace Sanjeev.
Subsequently, a few villagers gheraoed the police station Thursday evening alleging laxity in the search operation.
A few of them, who had been to Bareni forest Friday morning, were the first to spot Sanjeev’s mutilated body hanging from a tree.
Subsequently, villagers staged a blockade near Bareni square on Athmallik-Kiakata road demanding Rs20 lakh compensation to the bereaved family and the arrest of the female sorcerer, the source concluded.
PNN