Bhubaneswar: In a suspected case of child sacrifice, a freshly severed head of a child was found at a deserted place on the outskirt of Patnagarh town in Orissa’s Balangir district, nearly 400 km from here on Wednesday.

Police said the chopped-off head,- believed to be of a boy aged between 2 and 3, - was spotted at Meherpada Ramjigarh Square located on the fringe of Patnagarh town by some local people who reported the matter to the police. There was no trace of the beheaded body.

"It appears the boy was beheaded barely a few hours ago as blood was still oozing out of the head. Vermillion mark was found on the forehead. Flowers were strewn around the spot and there was sign of some rituals performed in the area. All these tale tell evidences give rise to the suspicion that the boy might have fallen victim to black magic," Shankar Meher, a local, told this newspaper.

The police along with a scientific team reached the spot and seized the head. Sniffer dogs were also pressed into service to locate the crime spot and chance upon other evidences to lead to the alleged culprits.

"The head has been chopped off from the root of the neck. It seems a sharp weapon was used to behead the body. We have sent the severed head for post-mortem. Besides, we have also sent the blood samples for forensic tests to identify the deceased," deputy superintendent of police, Patnagarh, Mr Laxminarayan Panda, told this newspaper.
"Preliminary police investigation points to the possibility that the child might have been sacrificed," he said.

"It may also happen that a stray dog might have dug out the body buried in the area. And in the process it might have separated the head from the body. We cannot rule out anything at this stage," he added.