Priest beheads man in Cuttack temple to ‘rid world of coronavirus’

Cuttack: In a suspected act of human sacrifice, a priest allegedly beheaded a 52-year-old man inside the Brahmani Devi temple in Bandhahuda village under Narsinghpur block of Cuttack district on Thursday.
The gruesome incident came to light after the accused, Sansari Ojha (70), surrendered before Narsinghpur Police. Police identified the deceased as Saroj Kumar Pradhan (52) of Bandhahuda village. The victim would tend to the trees on the premises of the temple, and shared a room with Ojha.
Radha Binod Panigrahi, SP (Cuttack rural), said Ojha committed the crime around 1 am on Thursday after an argument with Pradhan over the coronavirus pandemic. Panigrahi said Ojha, during his confession, claimed to have been visited by the presiding deity of the temple and ‘asked’ to decapitate Pradhan to ‘rid the world of the coronavirus’. “The priest beheaded Pradhan with the help of a billhook,” he added.
“Our preliminary investigation has shown that both of them had consumed weed at night,” the officer said. “A team has been sent to the spot and they have collected the necessary samples from the site. The body has been sent for postmortem. The accused has been detained and his medical check-up has been done,” Panigrahi added.
Villagers of the area said entry of devotees in the temple had been restricted because of the lockdown. “Most of us had not been to the temple for months. The two men would spend all their time on the temple premises,” said a villager on the condition of anonymity.
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