Days after a 13-year-old girl was murdered near Gandarvakottai in neighbouring Pudukottai district, the police have detained her father Paneeerselvam and another person, Kumar, in connection with the crime. Preliminary inquiries have led the police to suspect it to be a case of human sacrifice.
Panneerselvam is suspected to have killed his daughter reportedly on the advice of a woman sorcerer, who had apparently said it would bring him prosperity, according to initial reports. Detailed enquiries are under way.
The girl, who was found in an unconscious state inside a eucalyptus tree grove at her village after she left home to fetch drinking water, was admitted to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, where she succumbed. The Gandarvakottai Police initially registered it as an attempt to murder case and subsequently altered it as a case of murder, following her death. The girl had died of strangulation, the police had said then.
