Raigarh:
A local court on Monday awarded the death sentence to a 'tantrik' for killing an 11-year-old boy as sacrifice to a deity in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.
"The additional district and sessions judge (II class) Ashok Kumar Sahu found the occultist Dilip Rathiya (32) guilty of the crime and pronounced the judgement," prosecution lawyer Anil Kumar Shrivastava told PTI.
"The court has also slapped fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict," he added.
While pronouncing the verdict, the court observed that Rathiya deserved severe punishment for the heinous crime.
According to Shrivastava, on the intervening night of February 5 and 6, 2012, the victim named Praveen, a native of Barpali village under Gharghoda police station limits, was visiting a fair along with his relatives on the occasion of Saraswati puja.
Rathiya found the boy there, took him to his house and killed him by slitting his throat as sacrifice to a goddess.
The convict later buried the boy's head in the courtyard of his house, where he was performing the rituals, while the body was dumped in a nearby jungle.
When the child did not come back home, his family members lodged an FIR on February 6, 2012.
Rathiya was arrested during police investigation and the child's body later exhumed.