Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 25 (IANS): A court in Bareilly has awarded a life sentence to a 33-year-old childless woman, who had killed her neighbour's 10-year-old son and drank his blood as part of a tantrik ritual.

The woman believed that it would help her conceive a child.

The woman's paramour and her cousin, who helped her in the crime, have also been given life terms.

According to reports, the crime took place on December 5, 2017, in the Jamuka village under Roza police station limits.

Dhan Devi kidnapped and killed her neighbour's son with the help of her paramour Suraj and cousin Sunil Kumar.

She was arrested on December 8, three days after the incident.

Additional district government counsel Vinod Shukla said, "It was a horrific crime. The woman first extracted the boy's blood, smeared it on her face and drank a few drops as part of the ritual before killing him."

After her arrest, the woman told the investigating officer that she decided to approach a tantrik after failing to conceive even after six years of marriage and wanted to 'remove the blot of being childless'.

Fed up with the taunts at her in-laws' house, Dhan Devi left her husband, Dharampal, a resident of Madhotanda in Pilibhit district, and started living with her relatives in Shahjahanpur where she met the tantrik.

The boy's family had demanded a death sentence for the accused.