Partly burnt corpse of 9-year-old boy found

A suspected case of human sacrifice came to light on Saturday when the bruised body of a nine-year-old boy was found in a partially burnt state in village Tilda, police said.

Hemlal Kewat (9), who went missing five days ago was found near the village in Kasdol block, 100 kms from the state headquarters, they said.

Villagers are suspecting that it may be a case of human sacrifice since the boy's head was found to be tonsured with cut marks on his throat, head and ankles, police said.

The incident has spread panic in the area and a case of murder has been registered and the police is investigating all the possible angles to find out the actual cause of death, which would be known only after the receipt of the post mortem report, Prasant Thakur, Additional SP (Rural) Raipur, said.

Kewat is a class III student and son of a farmer identified as Suklal, police said.

During the interrogation, Suklal denied enmity with anyone in the area.