AN Indian father about to bury his daughter alive in a human sacrifice, which he believed would lead him to a hidden treasure, was arrested moments before carrying out the killing, police said.
The 18-year-old was rescued on Wednesday (27) moments before the man and eight accomplices, including a Hindu tantric priest, were to carry out the murder at her home in Maharashtra.
Police said they found the group staging a ritual and preparing for the killing after a tip-off from the girl's friend.
"They would have killed her any moment, but we caught them red-handed," said Yavatmal district police chief Dilip Bhujbal Patil.
Patil said the intended victim overheard her father discussing the plan an hour before the ritual began and told her friend about the danger to her life.
He added that the father had dug a pit for the burial in his yard the day before his apprehension.
The group have been charged with attempted murder and a separate investigation is underway into the father on accusations of sexually assaulting his younger daughter.
There are no official figures on the number of human sacrifices in India, but scores of young children are killed every year in similar rituals.
In recent weeks, two children aged three and seven were killed in separate suspected human sacrifices elsewhere in the country.
Police in Odisha state said a mother slit the neck of her toddler son this month as an act of contrition after she failed to procure a goat she had promised to sacrifice at a local temple.
(AFP)
Dharavi slum in Mumbai
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)