The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) launched an investigation after a video depicting a mock human sacrifice ritual in its campus in sub-urban Geneva went viral.

AFP quoted a CERN spokesperson saying, “Cern IDs are checked systematically at each entry to the Cern site whether it is night or day.”

“Cern welcomes every year thousands of scientific users from all over the world and sometimes some of them let their humour go too far. This is what happened on this occasion.”  

In the two-minute video posted last week, several people wearing black cloaks gather in front of a giant Shiva statue. One person then stabs a woman dressed in white, in what is described as a “blood sacrificed” even as the person shooting the video is heard swearing. 

According to the CERN website, the 2m tall statue of Lord Shiva in the form of Nataraj was installed in June, 2004 as a gift from India.