Dabugaon: In a gruesome incident, a five-year-old boy was bludgeoned to death in front of his father at a hilltop temple in Mendra village under Dabugaon police limits in Nabarangpur district, Thursday. The deceased was identified as Chandan Pujari, 5, son of Sanadhar Pujari, the priest of a Shiva temple on Sarguli hilltop in the village. Later, police arrested the murderer Jalendra Santa, 25, after being informed by the villagers.
Sources said, the accused not only killed the kid but also severed his limbs and drank the blood oozing out from the child’s body. The spine-chilling incident has sent shockwaves in the area and mourning in the priest’s neighbourhood. The incident occurred when Sanadhar had gone to the temple to conduct the daily worship rituals.
Later, Chandan was taken to the temple by his grandfather after the kid cried and insisted on visiting the temple. The boy was playing outside when Jalendra reached there and picked up a heated brawl with the priest. Enraged, he dragged the boy to the temple verandah and bludgeoned him to death in front of his father. Jalendra also severed the limbs of the body and drank the blood oozing out from it. Sanadhar lost his senses on seeing his son being gored and murdered. Later, he regained his senses and raised an alarm. Hearing his screams, villagers rushed to the temple. Panicked, Jalendra ran back to the temple carrying the severed limbs of the boy. He rushed to his backyard and concealed the severed limbs inside a bunch of twigs kept as firewood under a maize plant. Villagers chased and overpowered him before tying him to a tree.
Later, they informed the Dabugaon police who reached the spot and arrested Jalendra for the gruesome offence. The child’s severed limbs and torso were seized and sent for postmortem, Dabugaon IIC Sunil Kumar Pradhan said.
Later, Nabarangpur SP Rohit Ver ma, Umerkote SDPO Madhusikta Mishra, and a scientific team visited the spot and conducted a preliminary probe into the incident. Police registered a case of murder over a complaint filed by Sanadhar and launched an investigation. According to a source, the youth committed the crime for reasons not known yet. Jalendra was taken into custody and being interrogated in this connection.
