Assam: Cops stop ‘human sacrifice’ ritual by science teacher

Guwahati: The Assam police, with the help of locals, managed to avert a major tragedy of “human sacrifice” by a science teacher of a school at Kalaigaon in Udalguri district of Assam. Three men, who were performing the rituals prior to the sacrifice, were shot at and injured in the police firing.

The local villagers who were eyewitness to the incident said that Jadav Saharia, a high school science teacher, and his family had been conducting rituals in the nude at their home for past few days with the help of a tantrik, who has now been taken into police custody. Informing that local villagers and residents were suspicious over the activities of the family since some bizarre ritual started, an eyewitness of the incident said “Four men, including the tantrik, and three women had been performing a puja at Saharia’s residence for past few days.”

On Saturday, the family set their house and a bike on fire. When a local youth saw smoke, he rushed there and saw them preparing to sacrifice a three-year old girl, who was a family member. The locals not only raised an alarm in the nearby area but also called the police and local media.

“The women were ringing bells at a makeshift temple on their premises. Amid the loud noise, someone managed to rescue the child,” said the locals, informing that as soon as the child was rescued, the family members started attacking the villagers with sharp weapon and stones, forcing the police to open fire to contain the situation.

Narrating the stand off between the family trying to sacrifice a girl and villagers, Udalguri SP Longit Terang said, “At one point, we had no option but to open fire as a preventive measure.”

However, the police was tight-lipped and declined to make any comment on the attempt of human sacrifice.

Eyewitnesses said that the child was the daughter of the teacher’s sister-in-law and her father had given away the girl for sacrifice in presence of her mother.

They also alleged that the tantrik had been conducting rituals in the house since the suicide of a girl, three years ago. The police have detained the tantrik and some of the family members. An investigation into the incident is on, the police said, while admitting that some people, including journalists, also sustained injuries when the family attacked them.