7-year-old Indian boy killed in ritual sacrifice to bring success and fame to school

Five people were arrested in India for the killing of a seven-year-old boy in an alleged ritual sacrifice aimed at bringing good fortune to a public school, police said on Friday.

The victim was found dead in his bed on Sunday night at the hostel where he lived in the city of Hathras, not far from the country's famed Taj Mahal.

Instead of alerting authorities, police said that school director Dinesh Baghel hid the body in the trunk of his car.

Police officer Himanshu Mathur told AFP that the boy was killed before a black magic ceremony conducted by Baghel's father.

"The boy was meant to be taken to an altar as part of a ritual, but got killed before the ceremony could be completed," he said.

Baghel and his father were arrested along with three other teachers at the school, Mathur added.

Mathur did not give further details on how the child had died and local media reports said the body was undergoing a post-mortem examination.

The local community has been left in shock and disbelief, with many questioning how such a gruesome act could have occurred in a school environment.

India's National Crime Records Bureau lodged 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021.

Ritual killings are usually 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 conducting a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother's death.

Agence France-Presse