Nirmal, January 27: In what could be a case of human sacrifice, a 14-year-old boy fell prey to the designs of treasure hunters in Adilabad district. The body of Pasuparthi Ganesh was dug out from a trench in an old fort on the outskirts of Nirmal town on Thursday morning. Two accused, who confessed to murdering the boy for hidden riches, were arrested. Police are looking out for seven others involved in the conspiracy.
Police suspect that Ganesh, who was a ninth standard student of Chanakya Concept School in Nirmal, was sacrificed to please the deities on the night of Amavasya (January 24) and get hold of the hidden booty inside the Shyamghad Fort, where the poor boy was buried. The old fort is located 4 km from Nirmal. Police suspicions were strengthened when they found turmeric powder, vermillion, lemon and other puja-related objects close to the boy’s body.
The accused, Rathod Raju alias Raju Master and Prabhakar, allegedly throttled the boy to death before burying him in the trench. Sub-divisional police officer Sheshu Kumar said, “Both the accused have confessed that they had sacrificed Ganesh for some hidden treasury.” Rationalists said the superstition that human sacrifice would fetch mega bucks is rampant in several parts of the state and pointed out that the unsuspecting boy became a victim of this macabre episode.
Ganesh went missing on the evening of January 24 and based on the parents’ complaint, police took Raju, a friend of the victim’s father Narsaiah, into custody. During interrogation, Raju spilled the beans. Raju lured Ganesh and took him to Prabhakar. The duo killed Ganesh on January 24 and dug up trenches in search of hidden wealth in the fort close to the pit where they had buried the boy.
While Narsaiah runs a tailor shop in Sastrynagar locality where the family resides, Prabhakar has a tea stall in the locality. “Raju used to offer samosas to Ganesh and take him away to teach him two-wheeler driving. We had never imagined that the duo would do something horrific like this to our boy,” Ganesh’s mother said. Raju is a worker in the tea stall.
Raju confessed that he ‘sold’ Ganesh to Prabhakar by accepting Rs 20,000. “Prabhakar lured me by offering Rs 20,000 if I handed over the boy to him and promised that he would go to some other place and reside there with the boy as he doesn’t have children. But in the night he told me about the hidden wealth and the need to sacrifice the boy,” he said. While Prabhakar belongs to Khammam district, Raju hails from Nalgonda.
Narsaiah said they searched for Ganesh at his friends’ houses on January 24 and approached the cops when they did not find him. “I also went to the houses of Raju and Prabhakar who feigned ignorance. How could they kill an innocent boy for their selfish gains,” he cried.
Family members, relatives and women’s organisations staged a rasta roko in the town on national highway-44 for over three hours, blaming police for their negligence. “Had they acted immediately after a complaint was filed against Prabhakar, the life of Ganesh could have been saved,” an angry relative said.
A murder case has been registered against the duo. “There are seven others who hatched the conspiracy three months ago along with Prabhakar and Raju. We have formed special teams to nab them,” a police official said.
Meanwhile, the spine-chilling incident shocked the residents of the town. Some of them said there were instances of digging up the fort premises for hidden treasures but the cops have not bothered to put an end to the hunters’ game plan.
Courtesy: TOI