'Child sacrifice' bid foiled in Odisha; five held for trying to kill 7-year-old boy in Jagatsinghpur

Paradip: Five persons, including two women and a self-styled tantric, were arrested in this port town of Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on Friday for allegedly kidnapping and attempting to sacrifice a seven-year-old boy, a police officer said. The child was, however, rescued by his father, Satyaranjan Mandal (32), who managed to locate the miscreants, when they were apparently performing “pre-sacrifice rituals”, he said. The arrests were made after Mandal filed a complaint with Jatadhari Marine Police Station on Wednesday, Inspector In-Charge (IIC) B C Behera said. According to his complaint, the boy was playing outside his uncle’s home when he was kidnapped by the miscreants last Saturday. After hours of search, his father finally spotted him at an isolated place near a pond, where the tantric was apparently performing the rituals. Mandal said he found his son undressed with a garland around his neck and vermillion smeared on forehead. He also said the tantric and four others accompanying him could not give a convincing answer when asked why they took his son. The complainant said that elders in the slum area, where he lived, refused to initiate any action against the group of five. He then approached the police for help. The seven-year-old’s father claimed that the five accused wanted to sacrifice his son, as the tantric had told them that it would cure one of the two women of her disease, Behera said. The accused have, however, denied the charges, and said they were being framed, he added.