Occultist gets death for beheading baby

A court in Bankura district has sentenced to death an occultist, who, two-years ago, beheaded a baby and drank its blood as a part of a ritual.

Describing it as a rarest of the rare case, the fast track court of Sulagna Dastidar (Chhataraj) held the occultist Lakhikanta Karmakar guilty and awarded him capital punishment on Monday.

According to prosecution, people of Kalakuri village under Saltora police station found Karmakar with the baby’s head on January 29, 2012, at a Kali temple near a graveyard.

At about 11 am, the occultist was found performing rituals and drinking blood dripping from the severed head.

Locals then beat him up and handed him over to the police.

As none filed any complaint, the police started a suo motu case. Altogether 17 witnesses deposed in the case.