Kerala human sacrifice and the horror of killing in God’s name – India Today

The chilling details of the Kerala case have shocked the nation. (Illustration: Vani Gupta/ IndiaToday)

By Pallavi: Scene 1: A couple, sitting in their tiny house, call the healer. He had promised they would be rich by following some simple steps. They did everything they were told to do. They found a woman, brought her home and took her life to please God. The walls and floor of the house were purified by her blood. Her body was chopped into pieces and consumed in order to change destiny. But this was months ago. There was still no improvement in finances.

You must repeat the procedure one more time, sacrifice some more, the healer said. And so, the husband and the wife, went on to find another soul.

Scene 2: Lajja Shankar is emphatically chanting mantras, beating a drum in rhythm, and looking at the sky just as an eclipse is about to begin. It is the last step, the last sacrifice to please God. Lajja, immersed in his own consciousness and reality, is just moments away from what he always wanted. No, it is not about money or fame. He only wants one thing -- immortality. He's taking all the risk for only one power. He just wants to live forever.

Cut to this screen.

One of the scenes mentioned above is from a movie, complete fiction. But the other is something that has happened in the real world. Can you figure out which one is reality?

If you have been following the headlines, a case of human sacrifice has caught the interest of the country. In Kerala, two women have been murdered. Their bodies were chopped into pieces, breasts set aside for 'safety', and knife inserted in their private parts. The two women died in this manner in a village because a couple was told this would make them rich.

And yes, scene 1 is from real life. The scene 2 is from Akshay Kumar's movie Sangharsh in which Ashutosh Rana played Lajja Shankar, a maniac who kidnaps and kills children to attain 'immortality'.

According to National Crime Records Bureau, there were 68 murders in India in the year 2021 related to witchcraft and six recorded cases of child/human sacrifice.

If you check local newspapers, you will likely see a story of human sacrifice every other day. But the chilling details of the Kerala case have shocked the nation.

As unsettling details of the case unravel, here are a few such cases from the past that make us question if we are actually living in the 21st century.

In July 1985, a case of human sacrifice and triple murder in Odisha sent shockwaves across the nation. Three teenage boys were lured to a shrine atop a steep hill near Ranpur, 75 kms west of Bhubaneswar, where they were brutally killed and their blood offered in a misguided attempt to propitiate the goddess. India Today had reported that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sought a report on the inhuman act.

From the beginning, it was clear that it was a case of human sacrifice in its crudest form -- the children had their heads crushed with sharp rocks at the foot of the idol.

The three lives were taken against the backdrop of villagers of Ranpur gathered on the lawns of the Maninag temple to watch a jatra, a suspense-packed drama about a king and his queen being mesmerised by a tantrik. The villagers held their breath as the tantrik prepared to sacrifice the couple in order to gain glory for himself. But this story of sacrifice had a happy ending - the king's soldiers turned up and slew the wicked tantrik.

Meanwhile, the true horror was taking place at a distance with the three boys.

In 2004, a truck driver working for a big granite exporter claimed he had witnessed human sacrifice by the operators. Blaming the lorry operator, he told the local police station that in the year 1999, he was asked to pick up mentally unstable people. He brought a dozen of mentally challenged people and claimed that two of them were killed, throats slit, and buried at a quarry.

In September 2015, IAS officer U Sagayam, who was appointed as the legal commissioner by Madras High Court to probe into a Rs 16,000 crore granite scam decided to investigate these allegations. The photo of this officer sleeping at the burial site to protect the evidence became viral. In the morning they exhumed 4 skeletons. Days later, two more were found. The company, however, denied the allegations.

In May 2020, as the world tried to fight with coronavirus pandemic, a priest in Odisha got a call from God. As the world suffered from Covid-19 and loss of lives, the 72-year-old priest received an 'order from God'. He killed a 52-year-old man with a sharp weapon to please God and end the pandemic.

The incident took place at a temple near Cuttack district. The accused, however, surrendered before the police soon after committing the crime.

During interrogation, the priest said he committed the murder after receiving orders from god in his dream in which he saw that human sacrifice will dispel the coronavirus.

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Kerala human sacrifice and the horror of killing in God's name - India Today