11-year-old boy killed as sacrifice for school’s prosperity in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras by owner; five held

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An 11-year-old child was killed as part of an alleged sacrificial ritual performed by the owners of his school in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras to make it more prosperous, police said on Friday, September 27, 2024.

“Besides the owner and director of the school, the principal and two teachers were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident,” they said.

Police said the postmortem report of the class two student revealed that he was strangled.

DL Public School owner Jasodhan Singh, who is said to believe in ‘tantrik rituals’, asked his son Dinesh Baghel, the director of the school, to sacrifice a child for the prosperity of the school and his family.

Principal Laxman Singh and two teachers — Ramprakash Solanki and Veerpal Singh — have also been held by police.

Police have lodged an FIR against them under section 103 (1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, against five of them and they have been sent to jail.

“The student has been identified as Kritarth (11) studying in class second of the DL Public school,” Ashok Kumar Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Hathras said.

“On September 23, the student was abducted from the school’s hostel by teacher Ramprakash Solanki, Dinesh Baghel, and school owner Jasodhan Singh. Jasodhan Singh believes in ‘tantra’ practice and asked his son to sacrifice a child for the prosperity of school and his family,” he said.

“They took the student to a secluded place for the sacrifice but the student woke up and began crying,” the officer said.

“After that, he was strangulated. Another teacher Veerpal Singh and school principal Laxman Singh were also present at the spot and were guarding the place,” he said.

Police further said that the accused told the child’s parents that Kritarth was not well and was being taken to a hospital in Baghel’s car. Family members of the child, however, stopped the car and informed police about Kritarth’s death, police said.

Later, postmortem report showed that he died due to strangulation.

“In the police investigation, the accused informed police that the student was killed for ‘sacrifice’ for the prosperity of school and the owner’s family,” the ASP said.