Parents 'offered' kids
2007-01-04 16:30
Bhubaneswar, India - Police in eastern India said on Thursday they have arrested a couple for allegedly sacrificing their young sons to please the gods.
"It seems like a case of child sacrifice attached to tantric rituals," police superintendent Ravi Kant said in eastern Orissa state, where the incident happened.
Police said it had collected evidence of occult practices from the couple's house.
Residents of the area told police that the couple had been advised by a tantric practitioner that they should offer their sons, aged seven and nine, to please the gods for luck and prosperity.
The couple, however, denied the charges on local television, saying the boys died of illness and their bodies were kept in the house in the hope that they would come alive.
Police are searching for the occult practitioner.
Human sacrifices are reported occasionally in rural India where many people put faith in occult practices to ward off evil or gain prosperity.