Mumbai: Man Held For Digging In Neighbour's Home For Black Magic Ritual

Mumbai: A 55-year-old man was arrested for breaking into his neighbour's house and digging a pit inside to allegedly conduct black magic rituals there. However, when the police questioned him, he claimed he had merely dug the hole on the instruction of a tantrik, who told him he would find gold there. The police are currently on the hunt for the baba and three other suspects in the case.

The incident took place around 5 pm on Wednesday, in the Bangri Pada neighbourhood of Pal Nagar, Malad (E). Locals spotted that a house had been broken into, and informed the police. When the cops got there, they found the accused were digging a pit inside the house. They arrested one of the culprits, Pahelu Gauda, but the others managed to flee.
 
The police found artefacts of black magic at the spot, and booked the accused under the IPC and the black magic Act. However, Pahelu told the cops that he was merely digging for gold.

Backstory

Pahelu told the police that he had been under financial stress for a few years as he was unemployed. When he told his friend, Raju, about it, he was put in touch with a baba who claimed he could help Pahelu find riches.

Pahelu went to meet the baba, who told him he needed to inspect his house. Upon arriving there, the tantrik said there was nothing in Pahelu's house but there was buried treasure to be found at his neighbour's house. On the baba's direction, Pahelu, Raju, the tantrik's wife and his younger brother allegedly broke into the neighbour's locked house and began to dig a pit. By the time the police got there, the pit was 1.5 feet deep and 4 feet wide.

When the pit and black magic relics were revealed, it sparked fears among the locals that the accused were planning a human sacrifice there. However, the police have not found anything to support this theory.

"We have charged the accused under the IPC and the black magic act because we found evidence of rituals being conducted there. However, we did not find any evidence that shows there was to be any human sacrifice," said a cop from the Kurar police station.

The police said the accused have been booked under Sections 143, 149 (unlawful assembly) and 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking) of the IPC, as well as relevant sections of the black magic Act. Pahelu was later produced in court and sent to police custody.