Police, women's panel conduct a sting operation. Priest arrested, woman saved.
Bengaluru: The state women’s commission and Bengaluru district police foiled a priest’s alleged plans to sacrifice his wife as part of a black magic ritual to trace “hidden treasure”.
The accused, Mahalingeshwar (39), is a priest at Rudramuneshwara temple in Ullal near Kengeri and was staying in the same locality with his wife and three children.
He became a priest five years ago and was working as a driver before that.
According to the police, Mahalingeshwar’s 35-year-old wife approached the state women’s commission in Bengaluru and lodged a complaint stating that her husband was planning to sacrifice her to please a deity, which according him would lead him to a “Kumbh” or a pot of gold hidden in the ground.
She stated in her complaint that she is an Aquarian and her husband was searching for a person who is of the same Sun sign to offer as a sacrifice to the deity.
Mahalingeshwar had also dug a big pit near their house and was performing rituals regularly.
“He told me that the human sacrifice will make him a ‘crorepati’ and it was a vision from his guru whom he identified as Markandeya from Murudeshwara,” she stated in her complaint.
Mahalingeshwar used to sit naked while performing the ritual in front of her and their three daughters aged 17, 15 and 12.
He also sexually assaulted his elder daughter three days ago and force-fed alcohol to his two younger daughters and also forced them to smoke cigarettes, the priest’s wife said in the complaint. After the complaint was filed, the women’s commission with the help of police conducted a sting operation on the priest and caught him red-handed on Friday.
Rituals in a tank
The Byadarahalli police said that the sting operation revealed that Mahalingeshwar had built a tank in a separate room and performed puja inside the tank. He was so blinded in his pursuit for treasure that he had planned to sacrifice his wife in August as he failed to find any person with the Sun sign of his wife.
