Chandigarh, April 20 (IANS) Punjab Police on Thursday solved a case of human sacrifice involving a middle-aged woman with the arrest of two persons, who attempted to kill the woman as part of sorcery to get wealthy.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the arrested persons, identified as Kuldeep Singh and Jasvir Singh, are both residents of Fatehgarh Sahib.
Balvir Kaur (50) was found injured in the fields near a canal in Ferozepur village on Wednesday morning. She is presently undergoing treatment at PGIMER in Chandigarh.
Bhullar said the accused were circus performers and used to perform cycle shows in villages. They met the victim through her son Dharampreet, who became friends with them eight months ago.
Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Ravjot Kaur Grewal said that both the accused, who aspired to become rich, came in contact with a tantrik' (sorcerer), who asked them to perform human sacrifice' of a woman.
Grewal said the accused on Tuesday called Balvir Kaur on the pretext of taking her to the tantrik' for paying obeisance, but instead took her to an isolated place in Ferozepur village where they attacked her using a sickle, resulting in grave injuries on her neck and other body parts.
"After receiving information from the villagers, the police launched a probe which led to the arrest of both the accused," Grewal said.
Lingayat seer Dr Murugha Shivamurthy Sharanaru, accused of raping minor girls, was finally taken into custody by the Karnataka Police on Thursday night - six days after the FIR against him was lodged. Police sources said the accused seer will be produced before a court on Friday.
Taking umbrage at the Union Minister's new plan on how the future of Chandigarh would be decided, Badal said: "It is not in the ambit of Shekhawat to take a decision on this matter. This is a closed chapter. The UT status of Chandigarh is purely temporary pending transfer to Punjab."
Mann said in another significant decision, the state government has now decided to appoint Chief Minister Field Officers as Nodal Officers for NRIs to ensure redressal of their grievances. He said that these officers will prove to be an ideal Nodal Officer for NRIs as they will be effectively able to coordinate across departments and districts, besides having a direct communication with the Chief Minister's Office.
The passengers were later identified as Moshin Khan Saifi and Asim. Saifi was supposed to travel from Delhi to Hyderabad by Vistara Flight, whereas Asim was supposed to travel from Delhi to Dubai by Air India Express flight.
The official said that at about 4 pm, CISF staff at Terminal-3 noticed suspicious activities of a passenger in the check-in area. The passenger was later identified as Misam Raza, who was about to fly to Dubai on a SpiceJet flight. Raza was then diverted to the random checking point for a thorough checking of his luggage.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vikas Bhadana, Paras Sood, Thachang Tungshanao, Avinash, Ram Basua and Abhislash Singh, the call centre manager. While the call centre and house owner has been identified as Sachin Taneja.
