Mutilated body of 4-yr-old girl raises human sacrifice fears in Gurgaon

GURGAON: A four-year-old girl missing since Sunday was found dead in Gurgaon on Wednesday with her mutilated body prompting her family to allege she had been used as a human sacrifice by a tantric.

The girl’s tongue had been cut, her nose slashed, her head shaved and kajal applied on her eyes and vermillion on her forehead and lips, and she was missing an eye, an ear and a hand. The body was found near some huts in the Kadipur area near Pataudi Road where she lived with her family.

The police filed a murder case and detained a local shopkeeper after her family alleged he earlier tried to buy the girl. “He offered me `4 lakh for my daughter last week, which I refused. We suspect he abducted her and sold her to someone for tantric practice,” the victim’s father, a mason, said.

The police, however, said a preliminary investigation indicated the body may have been eaten by animals. “He (the shopkeeper) is a suspect but we need evidence to book him. The preliminary postmortem report indicates the body was eaten by some animal. Human sacrifice is not confirmed,” said investigating office Naresh Kumar.

A member of the team said the girl was strangled to death, and did not rule out the possibility of sexual assault. Tuesday was Gupt Ashtami when tantric practices are performed to fulfil specific wishes.