TNN
Madurai, Jul 26: In a chilling incident of child sacrifice, a fakir and his woman associate allegedly kidnapped, beheaded a one-and-a-half-year-old baby and buried the remains at two different places in southern Tamil Nadu, apparently to attain supernatural powers, the police said.
The police also suspected that the kidnapper may have drunk the child's blood as part of occult rituals.
The police have arrested the two and exhumed the torso of the child from a secluded spot near Erwadi dargah in Ramanathapuram district and the head from Kallamozhi near Yeral in Thoothukudi district. Abdul Gafoor, the fakir, had apparently sacrificed the child to goddess Kali Amman.
The police said Gafoor (31) from Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi district, told investigators that he had kidnapped and murdered the child after he had a dream in which he was instructed to sacrifice a child and drink its blood to acquire supernatural powers.
He had kidnapped G Khader Yusuf, the child, from Goripalayam dargah in Madurai on July 2. The child's mother, Sherin Fathima, a widow, had been staying in the dargah for several months. The police said Gafoor had spotted the child during a visit to the dargah for the treatment for his associate, Ramala Beevi (28).
"Gafoor and Ramala Beevi took the child to a lodge in Ramanathapuram. When the child started crying, Gafoor slit his throat. He then beheaded the boy and buried the head at Kattupallivasal near the Erwadi dargah. The couple then took the head to Thoothukudi where they buried it near the Kallamozhi dargah," Chidambaram Murugesan, inspector and head of the special team investigating the case said.
The police zeroed in on Gafoor after enquiries at the Goripalayam dargah revealed that he had stopped visiting the place since July 2. He was arrested on Friday night from his hometown and brought to Madurai. On Sunday, the police took Gafoor to Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi, where he was asked to exhume the body.
When Gafoor started digging at the spot, a portrait of goddess Kali Amman, and a garland of beads were found along with the torso wrapped in red cloth. The police team then went to Yeral and exhumed the head.