Kalaburagi: The mystery shrouding the ‘sacrificial’ killing of an 18-month-old girl child on October 4 at Budnal village in Shahpur taluk of Yadgir was solved with the arrest of the child’s grandfather and a practitioner of black magic.
According to police, the victim, Amritha, was allegedly killed by her grandfather Rachayya Swamy Hiremath with a view to possess hidden treasure. Hiremath was said to have committed the offence at the ‘advice’ of a mantrik Hanmanth Jogi Poojary, who he was in touch with for several years.
According to the child’s grandmother Neelamma, who filed a complaint with the Wadagera police, the child was taken away from the home when she was asleep with her parents and five others around 4 am in the morning.
The next day the body was found in a well behind the house. As kumkum, tamarind and other pooja items were found near the well, it was suspected that the girl was strangulated and the body was thrown into the well after pooja.
Suspecting that the child had been killed for possessing hidden treasure, the Yadgir Superintendent of Police formed a team to investigate the case.
During inquiry the police found that the child’s grand father was in contact with a witchcraft practitioner from a nearby village. This led to the arrest of the duo.
During interrogation, Hiremath was said to have confessed that he had lifted the child from the house and killed her after performing pooja by himself. The witchcraft practitioner was said to be not present at the time of pooja and its killing.
