The police said they recovered a towel, lemons and other items used in occultism. (representational)
A four-year-old boy was allegedly killed at a village in Uttr Pradesh's Amethi after his stepmother was told that a child had to be sacrificed so that she could bear one of her own, police said on Wednesday.
The police arrested four persons, including the stepmother and a man described as an occultist, after the missing child's body was found near a pond in Rehsi village in the Jamo area in Amethi on Monday.
Amethi Superintendent of Police Elamaran G said the boy, Satyendra, went out to play on Sunday but did not return home that day. His father Jitendra Prajapati lodged a missing complaint on Monday around 3 pm.
Three hours later, a few villagers informed him that Satyendra's boy was found in a drain, Mr Elamaran added.
Based on suspicion, Jitendra lodged a complaint against his wife Renu, father-in-law Mangru Prajapati, mother-in-law Prema Devi, and the occultist Dayaram Yadav, the police said.
During interrogation, Mangru and Prema Devi told the police that around a year-and-a-half ago, they married off their daughter Renu to Jitendrai, whose first wife had left him.
Satyendra is Jitendra's son from his first wife, the SP said.
However, Renu remained ill most of the time after her marriage to Jitendra and also suffered from a miscarriage, he added.
To address Renu's concerns, her parents contacted occultist Dayaram Yadav, who told them that Jitendra's first child had to be sacrificed for Renu to conceive. The body was later found in a drain near a pond, the SP said.
The police recovered a towel, a few lemons, nutmegs and other items used in occultism from the burial spot, the SP said.
A case has been registered against the accused under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code, he added.
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