Human sacrifice suspected at temple in India's West Bengal

Apr 16, 2010, 9:02 GMT

New Delhi - The beheaded body of a middle-aged man was found near the wooden sacrificial block of a temple in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, raising suspicion of a human sacrifice, news reports said Friday.

The severed head and the body of the yet-to-be-identified man was found Thursday in bushes near a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali in Donaipur village of the Birbhum district, the Telegraph newspaper reported.

Villagers found blood spattered on the wooden block used to sacrifice goats as part of religious rituals, police said.

A group from a nearby town had sacrificed two goats at the temple during rituals Friday, police said.

'We are investigating if the blood found at the base of the wooden block and inside the temple was of the man or the sacrificed goats,' a local police official was quoted as saying.

Rabindranath Mukherjee, district superintendent of police, said the case could be a murder that was made to look like a human sacrifice to mislead the police.

The victim's face had been mutilated with sharp weapons and there were injury marks on the body, police said.

A tribal youth and his wife were detained for questioning after sniffer dogs led the police to their house.

The body was found by the temple priest, who called the police.

Human sacrifice has long been banned in India, but there have been cases reported from underdeveloped regions where superstitions hold sway. The sacrifices are made to appease the goddess and to reverse misfortune.

The sacrifice of goats is part of the routine worship of Kali although it has been discontinued at many temples.

Kali is widely worshipped in eastern India and has several forms, including that of a benevolent mother figure and a dark and violent annihilator of evil wearing a garland of skulls.