Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 26: In a major breakthrough, police today arrested a self-styled ‘tantrik’ for killing his eight years old cousin for fulfilling his aspirations of gaining magical powers on the intervening night of December 16 and 17, which happened to be Purnima.
Sahil Kumar alias Pinky, 8, son of Romesh Lal, a tailor master by profession and a resident of village Khandwal, Chatha under the jurisdiction of Satwari police station was kidnapped and killed brutally with his throat slit and one eye gouged out.
SSP Jammu Atul Goel told a press conference at Satwari police station that the accused involved in the gruesome murder has been arrested. He disclosed identity of the accused as Tilak Raj alias Tinka, 23, son of Vijay Kumar, a resident of Khandwal, Chatha. He happened to be cousin of the child killed by him.
SHO Satwari Inspector Arvind Samyal and Incharge Chatha Police Post Sub Inspector Sukhbir Singh have worked out the gruesome murder.
Police said Tinka had been trying to gain magical powers. He had kept a small space in his house for the purpose. Police have also recovered some literature pertaining to superstitions and magical powers from his house.
After his arrest, Tinka told police that he had planned to sacrifice a boy on the night of Purnima for which he had kept two sharp-edged weapons (dharati and knife) in the fields at village Khandwal. He lured Sahil to the fields after he was returning from his tuition and slit his throat with the sharp-edged weapon after covering the boy’s mouth with a handkerchief to ensure that sound of his cries didn’t reach the village.
The murder was committed between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm, police said, adding the accused gouged out one of the eyes of the boy and buried it on the banks of river Tawi. He changed his blood soaked clothes and returned to the village.
The accused mixed up with relatives and other villagers and started searching for the boy to give an impression that he was altogether present with them.
Police said a number of suspects were rounded up during questioning to work out the murder. Finally, Tinka broke out and confessed the murder. He said he had planned the sacrifice to gain magical powers.
Police have recovered one of the sharp-edged weapons used in the crime (a dharati) while the knife was yet to be seized. Police said the gouged out eye of the boy has also not been recovered. The eye might have been washed away in river Tawi or eaten by the birds. However, a search for the eye and one sharp-edged weapon was still on along the banks of river Tawi.
Police said the blood soaked clothes of the accused, which he had hidden along the river, have also been recovered.
A murder case under Section 302 RPC under FIR No. 241/13 has been registered against the accused at Satwari police station.
With the arrest the blind murder of the boy has been worked out, police said.
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