Toddlers die in tantric ritual
By IANSMonday, January 24, 2011
GHAZIABAD - In a shocking incident, two toddlers died in Ghaziabad in a tantric ritual for seeking divine help to get rid of their sickness, police said Monday.
The incident happened Sunday night, but came to light Monday evening when the relatives were burying the children in a grave.
The police said Harsh, one and a half years old, and Mukul, two and a half years old, inhaled fumes and died of asphyxia when their mother, grandmother and grandfather, along with a tantric, performed some rituals. They are now under police custody.
According to police, Sanjay, the tantric, asked the children’s maternal grandparents Chaman Singh and Vimla and the mother to perform rituals at midnight Sunday to please Goddess Durga to free the children from their continuing sickness.
The two toddlers were hung upside down over the “haven” - fire place - to make them inhale the fumes coming out of a fowl that the tantric sacrificed in the fire, said the police.
They later took the children to the Kalkaji temple in Delhi. Both children were unconscious. The grandparents then took them to Deoband to a Maulvi, who declared them dead, City Police Suprendent A.K. Vijaita said.
They were about to bury the toddlers in Karhera locality, where they used to live, when an unidentified person informed the police about it over phone, added the official.
The suspects have been taken to custody for interrogation, he said.
