Boy killed in ritual sacrifice by school ‘hoping it would bring success’, say police

Police arrest director of private school in northern India, as well as his father and three teachers

Five people arrested for alleged muder of boy in school in Uttar Pradesh, India (Hathras Police )

A young boy was killed in a ritual sacrifice by teachers who believed it would please the gods and bring good fortune to their school in India, police said on Friday.

The boy, the son of a software engineer at a private firm in Delhi, was killed at a private school in the city of Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.

Five people, including the school’s director and three teachers, have been arrested for the alleged murder of the second grade student, police said.

The director, Dinesh Baghel, and his father, Jashodhan Singh, are accused of orchestrating the ritualistic killing with the help of the three teachers.

Mr Singh, who police said is a believer in black magic and human sacrifice, allegedly performed the ritual to improve the struggling school’s financial prospects.

“The boy was sacrificed as part of a ritual for the school’s supposed success and glory. We are investigating if any other individuals were involved in the murder,” senior police officer Nipun Agarwal told The Times of India.

Mr Agarwal said the director and his father had previously attempted to sacrifice another boy for the same reason but that plan failed. He did not elaborate on how or why the earlier attempt did not succeed, or what happened to the victim.

Police say they tried again on 22 September, abducting the boy while he was sleeping and placing him by a well behind the school to perform the ritual. When the boy woke up and tried to escape, the accused allegedly panicked and strangled him.

School staff found the boy lying dead in his hostel bed the next morning. But instead of reporting to the police, Mr Baghel drove around the city with the body in his car, reported The Times of India.

The boy’s family, informed that their child was “unwell”, arrived at the school in the meantime and raised the alarm when they could not find him.

“I received a call from the school saying, ‘Your child’s condition is very serious. Please come immediately.’ While I was on my way, they called again, saying, ‘The child’s condition has worsened and we are taking him to Sadabad,’” the student’s father recounted, referring to a nearby town.

“We followed them towards Agra, but they didn’t stop the car. When we returned, we caught up with them in Sadabad where we found my child’s body in their car.”

Human sacrifices, although rare, are still prevalent in India. These are conducted to appease deities into granting wishes.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the country reported 103 cases of human sacrifice from 2014 and 2021.

Three people were arrested in 2022 in the southern state of Kerala for allegedly murdering two women in a suspected case of human sacrifice.