When seven-year-old Brijesh stepped out to play on Tuesday, he wasn't destined to come back. His dismembered body was found in a dung-heap in an isolated area in Tueaur Buzurg village the following day. The suspect: the village tantrik. Tueaur Buzurg is a sleepy little village in Bulandshahr district. But life here has changed after Brijesh's death — tension is running high. People say the boy was sacrificed — his face was charred and flesh was cut from his wrists. Signs that he was killed in a ritual manner, they say. SSP Rajeev Krishna says that the boy's killing could be the act of a tantrik who perhaps wanted to seek siddhis (occult powers). "The tantrik and his son have been arrested and a case has been registered against them," says Krishna. However, he says the case needed to be probed further.