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The family of a priestess, in a village near Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh, has been subjected to social boycott for allegedly indulging in child sacrifice.
Gandham Pochamma, main accused in the case, has been arrested, and a case has been filed against her under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (concealing evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Her family meanwhile has been lodged in the local police station to save them from the fury of the villagers who had, when the news broke, ransacked the house of the accused and set it afire.
This follows the killing of an 11-month-old on May 24.
A post-mortem was conducted on the child's body this Friday at the Karimnagar district hospital, and Superintendent of Police R S Praveen Kumar said that no external injuries were found. The bones and marrow have been sent for further testing to the state Forensic Science Laboratory.
The body was cremated, late on Friday, while police patrolled the tension-ridden area. Nearly 20 families of the Babajilu caste, to which the accused belongs, have meanwhile fled the village in fear of their lives.
As per police soures, the child, Naveen -- only child of village tailor Sonakala Sudhakar and his wife Vanita -- went missing around 3.30 PM on May 24, which happened to be an amavasya day. The family rents a portion of Pochamma's house.
The body of the child was found, after much searching, late that same night in the septic tank of the house.
The rest is the stuff of rumour -- incendiary rumour, that has turned the village aflame.
It is claimed that Pochamma invited 10 families of her community to a feast, that she kidnapped the baby, that a garland of neem leaves was put around its neck and that after the feast, a special puja was offered and the child sacrificed to propitiate the village deity for attaining "spiritual powers" and recovering a hidden treasure.
The police, for now, have filed a case of murder and are investigating.
Pochamma, the central figure in the story, is the second wife of Ramdas, a palmist who lives in Nepal and visits his home in the village every once in a while. Ramdas, who practises his fortune-telling art in Nepal and performs rituals as requested by foreign tourists, owns two homes in the village.
He also has two wives, and 14 children, including nine from Pochamma.
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