New Delhi: Cops rescue infant sold by uncle to tantrik for ‘human sacrifice’

A four-month-old girl was rescued from a burial ground in Ghaziabad barely hours before she was to be sacrificed by a tantrik (occultist), said police Sunday. Police arrested the tantrik, Mohammed Illyas (35), who wanted to do a human sacrifice to enhance his powers, along with another person, Dilshad (32), from Ghaziabad. The child’s maternal uncle, Asif (22) was also arrested for selling her to the tantrik for Rs 40,000, said police. “Illyas is married and has three children. He told us he just completed his ‘tantrik vidya’ and wanted to be a ‘graduate’ in it.

For this, he wanted a ‘bali’ of a human being,” A K Singla, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast), told The Indian Express. Sources said Dilshad works under Illyas, who is Asif’s friend. Once Dilshad spotted Asif’s niece, he offered Rs 40,000 to buy her, said a police officer. Asif was in debt and sold his niece, the officer added. The infant went missing from her home in Nehru Vihar locality in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad area Friday evening and her parents informed the police.