The baby’s body was found on Friday morning. It bore multiple burn marks, cuts and bruises, pointing at the pain and horror the little girl had suffered, before her captors strangulated her to death.
Three persons, including a woman, sacrificed a three-year-old girl at the altar of superstition in Mangalore.
Priyanka, the only child of Firan Kumar and Anjali Jha, would not be joining kindergarten in February, as planned.
The baby’s body was found on Friday morning. It bore multiple burn marks, cuts and bruises, pointing at the pain and horror the little girl had suffered, before her captors strangulated her to death.
The accused, Madhava Purusha, Chandrakala and her acquaintance, Kamalaksha Purusha were arrested, police said.
Police were trying to ascertain the motive of the sacrifice.
Priyanka had been missing since Thursday afternoon. Police said she was the first victim of witchcraft in Dakshina Kannada district.
Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the girl had suffered excessive blood loss.
The child was also dehydrated, since she had continuously cried, which failed to appeal to the humane feelings.
Firan, a security guard attached to the godown of an electrical shop, had on Thursday complained that his daughter had been missing.
A few of his neighbours in Yeyyadi had earlier seen Chandrakala trying to win the child’s confidence. The police questioned her, along with Madhava and Kamalaksha, who reportedly confessed to the crime.
The accused persons guided investigators to a shack behind Chandrakala’s house where they had hidden the girl’s body.
They hid the body to complete the rituals they had begun.
“We found signs of elaborate, strange rituals performed in Chandrakala’s house. The evidence found point at witchcraft,” deputy commissioner of police (crime) Ramesh said, adding that Priyanka could be the first child to be sacrificed in Dakshina Kannada district.
The police found from the neighbours that Chandrakala and her companions had been performing strange rituals at her house every day. “They also threatened their neighbours of casting dark spells on them, if they dared to report the rituals to the police,” said Niranjan Raje Urs, circle inspector (crime) of the Kadri.
Kamalaksha and Chandrakala had told the neighbours that they were man and wife after dusk, but father and daughter during day. Those who opposed such a relationship were silenced with threats.
Gangadhar, a neighbour of Chandrakala, said the trio had once threatened him.
“Recently, they had even resorted to taking money from people, saying it would keep them safe from black magic. They had the support of a few influential peoples in the locality, which made others fear them,” he said. Neighbours reportedly told the police that the accused persons used to perform strange rituals at night.
Eerie screams and other sounds associated with black magic were heard at nights, affecting others in the locality.
The neighbours also said that they had earlier informed the police of the accused person’s activities.
Meanwhile, Priyanka’s father Firan said he had been saving money to admit the child to a kindergarten in February.
“I was planning to admit her to a kindergarten in February. I have saved Rs2,000 to meet the expenses,” the man sobbed. Firan, a native of Bihar, had brought his family to Mangalore two years ago.
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