A three-year-old child, who was reportedly suffering from night terrors, was allegedly murdered by a self-styled godman and his brother on Sunday at Ajjikyaathanahalli village in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, in an attempt to ‘cure’ her of them.
According to multiple reports, the parents took their child to the self-styled godman for treatment as the child was experiencing nightmares. The ‘baba’ claimed that the child was possessed by ‘evil spirits’ and allegedly beat up the child for almost an hour while the parents who were standing nearby did not intervene.
The accused have been identified as Rakesh (19) and his brother Purushotham (21) who were living in a hut in the outskirts of the village and used to run a ‘clinic’ where they allegedly claimed to rid people of the evil spirits. When they realised that they had murdered the child, they allegedly lied to the parents that their child would regain consciousness in a couple of hours and fled from the scene.
When the child did not wake after a couple of hours, the parents Praveen and Baby rushed her to a nearby health centre where the doctors declared that the child was dead upon arrival. Praveen who owns a tea shop in the village has another child, a one-year-old son, according to a report in the Times of India.
A police complaint was filed with the Chikkajajur police who arrested the accused nearly 300 km away from the scene of the crime as the duo had fled to Davanagere district. The accused are currently in judicial custody.
They have been booked under the Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder) and section 3 of the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017, for practising black magic under which the accused can be jailed up to seven years, and in case of death, can be imprisoned for life.