Banda (UP), Jul 7 (IANS): A woman and her daughter allegedly hacked their neighbour's five-year-old daughter to death, as part of an occult ritual sacrifice in the Banda district of Uttar Pradesh.

The two women undertook this ghastly practice to discover buried treasure.

The incident came to light on Tuesday in Chamraudi village under Kotwali police station when the police was informed of the missing girl and they questioned the minor son of the accused who lives in the victim's neighbourhood.

The boy told the investigators that his mother and sister had hacked the girl and later threw her body in a nearby nullah.

Kotwali inspector Bhaskar Mishra said that the body was retrieved and sent for the post-mortem examination. Serious injury marks were found on the victim's neck.

The accused women told the police that they had killed her neighbour's child as "part of a ritual sacrifice" to discover buried treasure on the advice of an occultist.

"We have detained the accused woman, her daughter and husband for questioning. We are investigating the incident from other angles too," the inspector added.

A search is on for the occultist, the police said.