4 min learnBhubaneswarUp to date: Aug 22, 2026 07:34 AM IST
When police in Odisha’s Balangir recovered a headless physique from a pond earlier this week, little did they know that their seek for the perpetrator, and the half lacking from the sufferer’s physique, would finish barely 20 metres away.
However greater than the crime, what threw the police off was the motive behind it – the case turned out to be an alleged try at human sacrifice carried out by the accused in a bid to get again his estranged spouse.
Police have arrested the accused, 40-year-old Satrughan Sahu, a resident of Bagada village below Deogaon Police Station.
Police mentioned the sufferer was recognized as Santosh Kharsel, 45. His brother-in-law had filed a lacking report on August 18. Kharsel was a local of Teparmunda village within the district.
Because the physique was discovered with out the pinnacle, it initially raised suspicion of destruction of proof after the homicide, police mentioned. As police started on the lookout for the accused, they learnt that Kharsel was final seen with Sahu.
Northern Vary Inspector Basic of Police Himanshu Lal confirmed to The Indian Categorical that Sahu killed Kharsel as a part of human sacrifice in an try and carry again his spouse, who has been residing at her maternal house at Patnagarh within the district for the previous 11 years. Each the youngsters of the accused had additionally been staying away from him.
Attacked sufferer with dagger
“Investigation thus far revealed that the accused met the deceased on August 18. Thereafter, he (Sahu) introduced him (Kharsel) to his home. Through the evening, the accused attacked the sufferer with an iron katari (dagger), severed his head, and disposed of the beheaded physique in a close-by pond, which is barely 20 meters from his home,” mentioned Lal.
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The severed head was then buried inside a pit in Sahu’s room. It was retrieved on Thursday.
Police mentioned that these days, Sahu had been seized by the assumption that solely human sacrifice might reunite him together with his spouse. “He had been looking out for a sufferer when he noticed Kharsel at a bus stand,” mentioned an official.
Based on Balangir Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhilash G, the police have seized the weapon of offence and different articles from the home of the accused. A forensics group examined the crime scene and located blood samples, police added.
“We’ve got proof that Sahu is the killer. We’ve got his confessional assertion, too. Additionally, we seized garments from his home with blood stains of the sufferer. We try to file the chargesheet inside 60 days,” mentioned the Balangir SP.
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The senior officer mentioned that it was when the police recovered the severed head from the home of the accused that they modified their course of investigation.
The police mentioned they suspected a case of human sacrifice after puja materials, utilized in comparable circumstances that surfaced in the previous few years, had been recovered from the home of the accused.
“We suspected that the accused had not hid the severed head however preserved it, and led the investigation accordingly. The police additionally discovered blood samples on the brass deities and portraits in entrance of which Sahu was providing prayers,” mentioned Abhilash.
As per a newfound perception, Sahu thought that he would get again his spouse if he supplied human sacrifice, police mentioned. “That superstition led him to commit the crime, as per his confession,” mentioned the Balangir SP.
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The SP mentioned that in keeping with the members of the family of the sufferer, he was not in very sound psychological state, which might be a purpose he grew to become a simple goal for the accused.
Although police dominated out involvement of others within the crime, the Balangir SP mentioned additional investigation is underway within the case.
Based on the neighbours of the accused, Sahu led a solitary life and had little or no interplay with them.
