Seven-year-old girl abducted & ‘sacrificed’ in Chhattisgarh for occult ritual; five, close relatives held

RAIPUR: A seven-year-old girl who had gone missing in April, was found to be murder after abduction by her relatives who allegedly performed a tantric ritual as part of their belief in human sacrifice and killed her using a knife in Mungeli district of Chhattisgarh.

Police have arrested five people who had buried the body in a field. In their chilling confession, the accused said that they were driven by a belief that child sacrifice would bring them immense wealth and they orchestrated the murder. It’s a shocking case of ritualistic killing rooted in blind superstition and greed, Mungeli SP Bhojram Patel said. Briefing the reporters, police said that the victim, identified as Lali Goswami went missing from her home in Kosabadi village on the night of April 11.

She was sleeping next to her mother when she was kidnapped and taken to a cremation ground nearby, where a tantric ritual was performed before she was killed. Her body was buried in a field nearly 100 meters away to destroy evidence.Dark Ritual, Chilling ConfessionAccording to SP Patel, the five arrested include the girl’s close relative Ritu Goswami (36), cousin brother Chimman Giri Goswami (40), and three associates Narendra Marko (21), Akash Maravi (21), and a local occult practitioner, Ramratan Nishad alias "Baiga" (45).

Investigations revealed that Ritu was the mastermind behind the crime. Believing that child sacrifice would bring them wealth, she planned the killing as part of a ritual known locally as “Jharan Puja.” The family’s financial condition was poor, and Chimman, ran a small shop of tent rentals and liquor sales.DNA testing confirmed the skeletal remains found near the cremation ground belonged to Lali. The child had multiple injuries, and forensic reports established homicide. The case initially went cold due to a lack of leads. But nearly a month after Lali went missing, her skull and bones were discovered by locals near the village’s cremation ground on May 6, reigniting the investigation. Police formed eight special teams for thorough probe. With no clear confessions and suspects repeatedly changing their statements, police resorted to narco-analysis, brain mapping, and polygraph tests of the prime suspects.

It was during these tests that the horrifying truth came out. Ritu Goswami confessed that she paid Narendra to kidnap the girl. At around 1 AM, he brought Lali to Ritu, who dressed her in black clothes for the ritual. After performing occult rites, Ritu and her accomplices killed the girl. The body was then buried in a field with the help of Akash to avoid detection.

A Crime That Has Left a Village Stunned

The accused even used ritualistic materials, which were later recovered along with the murder weapon.

A neighbour proved instrumental to the breakthrough, telling police that he had seen the group carrying a child toward the cremation site on the night of the crime. All five accused were presented in court and have been remanded to judicial custody. The case has left the village of Kosabadi in shock, exposing the deep roots of superstition and the dangers of blind faith. SP Bhojram Patel said, “This is not just a murder, it's a horrifying reminder of how vulnerable children can be in the grip of superstition and familial betrayal.”