Boy, 10, found beheaded in Kolkata

Tension gripped Zafargunj area at Lalbagh in Murshidabad after the beheaded body of a 10-year-old boy was found from a banana bush on Sunday morning. Police sources said that Subhas Mondal was missing since Saturday evening.

A student of Class 4 of a local school, Subhas left his home at around 8 pm. When he did not return till late at night, his father Tarapada Mondal, along with the other villagers, searched frantically but could not trace him. A missing diary was lodged at the Lalbagh police station in the wee hours.

While Mr Mondal, a vegetable vendor, was ready to go for his work, he received the news that the body of a beheaded boy was was found inside a banana bush. He rushed to the spot and immediately identified Subhas by the blue jeans he was wearing.

The family members lodged an FIR with the Lalbagh police station claiming that their boy was slaughtered in an act of witchcraft.

“We feel that it is the work of a tantrik who indulges in human sacrifice for worship and prayer,” the victim’s father said. The police pressed sniffer dogs into service but the head is yet to be recovered.

“The gruesome way in which the innocent boy was killed makes us think that there was a lot of grudge among the killers. We have searched all the nearby shrines and have enquired of any such human sacrifices but till now we have not found any angle of witchcraft as the family members have alleged. We are not ruling out family dispute behind the murder,” a senior district police official said.

“The body has been sent for post mortem but apparently there was no external injury mark on the body,” a police officer said. Sleuths are trying to ascertain the reason.