Beheaded and chopped body parts: 9-year-old boy 'sacrificed' for getting money in Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Silvassa, Jan 11: Human sacrifices, although not common, are still prevalent in India. A shocking revelation has come to the fore in the disappearance case of a nine-year-old boy named Chaita Kohla from Sayli village in Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) district of the Union Territory on December 2.

The Dadra and Nagar Haveli police have arrested two men and detained a teenage boy last week after the headless body was found dumped near a canal at Vapi in Valsad district in neighbouring Gujarat.

According to the police, boy was kidnapped and decapitated as part of a horrific case of human sacrifice ritual for getting money and later his body was chopped into pieces, and added 100 personnel were involved in connecting the dots to crack the brutal crime, as reported by PTI.

The nine-year-old boy went missing from Sayli village in the DNH, following which a case of kidnapping was registered at the Silvassa police station on December 30, police said in a release. While multiple teams were found to trace the boy, a headless body matching his description was found at Vapi, located around 30 km away from Silvassa, the headquarters of the DNH district, police said.

While the body was found in a canal in Vapi, parts of the body, suspected to be of the victim, were found in Sayli village where the ritual was performed, an official said. The body parts have been sent for forensic examination, he added. ''The investigation led the police to a juvenile. He revealed he had kidnapped the victim on December 29, 2022, from Sayli village and murdered him as a human sacrifice with the help of his accomplice,'' the police said.

A case of murder was registered. The interrogation of the detained juvenile helped the police recover weapons used in the crime, police said. The detained boy disclosed that his friend Shailesh Kohkera (28) helped him in killing the victim, police said.

''He said one Ramesh Sanwar was also part of the conspiracy. Sanwar prompted the detainee and Shailesh Kohkera to perform a human sacrifice ritual in the hope of gaining monetary benefits,'' it said.

Subsequently, Kohkera and Sanvar were traced and arrested on January 3. Police said the juvenile worked as a butcher in a chicken shop in Sayli village. He is a native of Karjan village in Kaprada taluka of Tapi district in Gujarat. He has been sent to the observation home at Surat and further investigation is underway.

A team of 100 personnel was formed and assigned different tasks to solve the crime after the headless body was found at Vapi, the police said.

This comes after three people were arrested for the ritualistic killing and the human sacrifice of two women in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala.

Such chilling details of the killings that have emerged in the past have sparked a debate about the prevalence of superstitious beliefs, black magic, sorcery and other occult practices in India.

Human sacrifice in India

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein a monarch's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life. Closely related practices found in some tribal societies are cannibalism and headhunting.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, a total of 103 ritualistic sacrifices have been recorded in the country from 2014 to 2021. The year 2015 saw the highest number of such cases at 24, while 2018 saw the lowest, with 4 cases. According to government data, 6 cases of human sacrifices were recorded in 2021, as reported by DH.