Police in India said they have nabbed five people connected to the killing of a seven-year-old boy in an alleged ritual sacrifice aimed at bringing good fortune to a public school.
The boy was found dead in his bed at the hostel where he lived in the city of Hathras, on Sunday night.
The school director, Dinesh Baghel, failed to report the incident to the authorities, but concealed the body in the boot of his car.
Police officer Himanshu Mathur stated that the boy was meant to be taken to an altar as part of a ritual but was killed before the ceremony could be completed.
Mathure said Baghel and his father were arrested along with three other teachers at the school, but did not provide further details on how the child had died.
The body, according to local media, is undergoing a post-mortem examination.
According to AFP, India’s National Crime Records Bureau recorded 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021.
Ritual killings are typically conducted to appease deities and are more common in tribal and remote areas, where belief in witchcraft and the occult is widespread.
Last year, police arrested five men for the 2019 murder of a 64-year-old woman, who was killed and decapitated with a machete after visiting a temple in India’s remote northeast. Police said the alleged ringleader had been performing a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother’s death.
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