The police stated on Wednesday that a 9-year-old boy from Sayli village in the Union Territory of Diu Daman and Dadra Nagar Haveli (DDDNH), who had been the subject of a kidnapping complaint for eleven days, had actually been killed as part of a ritual “human sacrifice” carried out to gain money and power.
When a beheaded body was discovered in a canal close to the Valsad village of Karvad and its details matched those of the missing 9-year-old boy, police detained a minor suspect on January 1 and detained his accomplices on January 3. However, a DNA report is required before the police will confirm.
Intriguingly, a red thread tied to the found body’s hand assisted police in the boy’s father’s early identification. Police reported that despite the missing head and parts of the body below the waist, the man recognised his son from the thread.
The boy’s father reported the kidnapping to the Silvassa police station on December 30, according to the police, who also added that several teams totalling 100 police officers were formed to find the missing child.
A police officer in Valsad said, “While working to identify the boy, we alerted the DNH police and they brought the father of the deceased boy. The father identified the body from the red thread on the wrist. We cannot confirm that the recovered body is of the kidnapped and murdered boy.”
“The juvenile revealed he had kidnapped the boy on December 29 from Sayli village and murdered him as a human sacrifice with the help of his friend Shailesh Kohkera,” the police added.
The police detained Ramesh Sanvar, 53, resident of DDDNH, and Shailesh Kohkera, 28, resident of Dang. The minor suspect, a butcher shop worker from Karjun hamlet in Kaprada near Valsad, has been taken to an observation facility in Surat.
Following rituals in Sayli village, the suspects buried the chopped body pieces and put the remaining body into a canal, according to a police inquiry.
A police officer said, “The arrested accused are involved in the kidnapping and murder of the nine-year-old boy. The accused are currently in police custody and we are questioning them for more details.”
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