Korba: A local court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to six people, including a couple, for killing a four-year-old boy in a human sacrifice ritual in 2014 in the state's Janjgir-Champa district.
Additional District and Sessions Kudge (II Class) Pankaj Kumar Sinha found Chhatram alias Dhartiram Patel (60), his wife Rajkumari (40), their son Suraj (28), Kaliram Gada (46), Ramayan Patel (36) and Budhwar Madhukar (45) guilty of the crime and pronounced his judgment, Janjgir-Champa Additional Superintendent of Police Vijay Agrawal said.
On July 11, 2014, the child Sunil Kashyap had gone missing while playing near his home in Changori village under Akaltara police station limits, after which his parents lodged a police complaint.
After two days, his partially decomposed body was found on the outskirts of the village, Agrawal said.
An autopsy report revealed that his throat was slit and strangulated before he died, the ASP said.
Chhatram and his wife were interrogated after which they confessed to committing the crime, the ASP said.
As per their statements, Suraj suffered from some illness for several months.
With the help of two witch doctors (locally called "baiga") namely Ramayan and Kaliram, they decided to offer human sacrifice, the ASP said.
All six accused were booked under Section 363 (kidnapping), Section 302/34 (murder/acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code, he said.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 each on the convicts, he said.
The convicts were also sentenced under some other sections of IPC.
Under Section 201, they were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and slapped with a fine of Rs 5,000 each while rigorous imprisonment of five years along with a fine of Rs 4,000 each was pronounced for them under Section 363, he said.
Moreover, the court awarded them ten years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 120 (B) and a imposed fine of Rs 5,000 each, the ASP said, adding that all the punishment would run concurrently.
