Tribal man beheads his grand daughter in Orissa

In a grotesque and shocking incident, a 55-year-old tribal named Rajesh Hembram sacrificed his nine-year-old granddaughter in a remote village of Orissa to appease ?Mother Earth? for a bumper crop. He was been arrested by the police

CJ: Iqbal Khan

Wed, Apr 29, 2009 10:51:08 IST

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Orissa News :

IN A bizarre incident, a 55-year-old tribal named Rajesh Hembram sacrificed his nine-year-old granddaughter in a remote village of Orissa on Monday afternoon (April 27), to appease ‘Mother Earth’ for a bumper crop.

The grotesque incident took place at Adapathar village under Kulundi gram panchayat in Sambalpur district of Orissa. Rajesh carried out this brutal act before ‘Akshaya Tritiya’, which is considered an auspicious day for sowing seeds.

Such a barbaric incident has sent shockwaves throughout the district. The Orissa police has arrested Rajesh. While speaking to the media, Sanjay Kumar, Sambalpur SP termed the incident as ‘shocking’. He also said that the accused has lost his balance of mind. Further investigation is going on.

Rajesh has been living in the Adapathar village along with his wife, three sons and grand-daughter Veronica Kandulana, for years. Veronica’s father Jagdish Kandulana died of illness six years ago. While Veronica was staying with her grandparents, her mother Sylvina is living in Jharkhand at her in-laws place. Veronica was a student of Class IV in Kadlipal primary school.

On that fateful day, while Veronica was taking her lunch, Rajesh asked his wife to fetch some nuts from the market. After his wife had left, Rajesh locked the door from inside and gagged Veronica. Then he decapitated Veronica with an axe and collected her blood in a small utensil. When Rajesh’s wife came back, she found the door locked from inside. She broke into the room and shouted in fear after seeing this barbaric act. People from the neighbourhood rushed in and caught Rajesh red handed. Rajesh later confessed to the police that he had planned to mix his grand daughter’s blood with seeds before sowing them on ‘Akshaya Tritiya’ to satisfy ‘Mother Earth’. Rajesh owns three acres of land.

According to the local sources, human sacrifice is a very old ritual of the tribals and Kandh tribals used to practise it. The tribals still believe that offering of blood would deepen the colour of turmeric.

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