UP: School Principal, Believer Of 'Tantrik' Rituals, Kills Student For 'Prosperity'; 5 Held

An 11-year-old student in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras was strangled to death after the principal of his school , who believes in 'tantrik' rituals, allegedly picked him for a sacrificial ritual to make the institute more prosperous, reports cited police on Friday.

Besides the owner and director of the DL Public School, the principal and two teachers were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident, news agency PTI quoted police as saying.

The owner of the school, Jasodhan Singh, is said to believe in 'tantrik rituals'. He reportedly asked his son Dinesh Baghel, the director of the school, to sacrifice a child for the prosperity of the school and his family.

"The 11-year-old Class 2 student, identified as Kritarth, was abducted from the school hostel by teacher Ramprakash Solanki, Dinesh Baghel and school owner Jasodhan Singh on September 23, the PTI report quoted Hathras Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ashok Kumar Singh as saying.

"Jasodhan Singh believes in 'tantra' practice and asked his son to sacrifice a child for the prosperity of school and his family," Singh said.

They took the student to a secluded place for the sacrifice but the student woke up and began crying, the officer said, adding that the boy was then strangulated.

"Another teacher Veerpal Singh and the school principal Laxman Singh were also at the spot and guarding the place," he said.

Police further said that the accused told the child's parents that Kritarth was not well as was being taken to a hospital in Baghel's car. Family members of the child, however, stopped the car and informed police about Kritarth's death, police said.

Later, postmortem report showed that he died due to strangulation.

During the police investigation, the accused informed police that the student was killed for 'sacrifice' for the prosperity of school and the owner's family," the ASP said.