Man suspected of abducting girl for sorcery arrested: Police

A 30-year-old man has been arrested from a house near a pavement from where an eight-year-old girl, sleeping with her parents, had gone missing on Thursday night, said police.

Hamirpur’s Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar on Saturday said the man was arrested after some badly burnt body parts, primarily some bones of a child, almost reduced to ashes, were recovered from a house around 200 meters away from the pavement where the girl was sleeping with her parents.

The girl’s father, belonging to a nomadic tribe, had on Friday lodged a complaint with Maudaha Kotwali (police station) that his eight-year-old daughter was sleeping with him on the pavement near the house and had gone missing.

On the girl’s father’s compliant, the police scanned the CCTV footage in the area and found a man, looking like the one residing in the nearby house, carrying the child during the night, said Maudaha Deputy Superintendent of Police Saumya Pandey.

On the basis of the CCTV footage, a police team raided the house and found some badly burnt mortal remains of a child -- largely ashes and some bones -- along with some turmeric and other articles used in religious rituals, he added.

It appeared to be an incident related to sorcery, the Dy SP said.

The mortal remains of the child is suspected to be those of the missing girl, SP Kumar said, adding the bones and ashes seized from the house have been sent for forensic tests.

The arrested man appears to be mentally unsound, said the SP, adding he is also a drug addict and his wife had left him. He lived in the house, which belonged to his father. 

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