Gonda (Uttar Pradesh), Jul 24 (IANS): A man has been arrested in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly chopping off the head of a 60-year-old man as a human sacrifice to please a deity and apparently hasten the marriage of his and his sibblings.

The incident took place on Thursday and the accused was arrested, hours later. Villagers said that Shukla and his five brothers were unmarried and, last week, a priest had visited them. "The priest had told them if they beheaded an old man in his sleep, their marriages would be solemnised soon. It was to be done to please a deity," one of the villagers told the media.

SHO, Colonelganj, Rajnath Singh, said that the accused, Uday Prakash Shukla, 25, did not have any dispute or feud with the victim Baburam or his family. "We are trying to ascertain what prompted him to take this step. A sharp-edged weapon recovered and would be presented as evidence in court," he said.

Singh further said that after the murder, Shukla started making loud noises. He then asked people to get him arrested. "In the lock-up, he kept on uttering some words which could not be deciphered," he said.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that he had no rivalry with Baburam, but had chopped his head off as a human sacrifice to please the deity. Further investigations are underway to find out who prompted the accused to commit the crime.