GUWAHATI: The Jalukbari Police have arrested five people in connection with a human sacrifice case that occurred in Guwahati's Kamkahya Temple in 2019.
As per the Police report, on June 19, 2019, at approximately 5:30 PM, the Kamakhya Police Outpost received information that a beheaded body of an unknown female person had been discovered in Kamakhya near Joy Durga Mandir.
When police arrived at the scene, they discovered a female body wrapped in a blanket on the staircase of Joy Durga Mandir, with the deceased's head missing.
In this regard, a Suo-moto case was registered at Jalukbari Police Station under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and an investigation was launched.
Because the deceased's identity was unknown, no further clues could be discovered during the initial stage.
On July 28, 2019, the victim's son, Suresh Shaw of Tatipara (Borkandaspara), of the Hooghly district of West Bengal, came to Jalukbari Police Station after learning from the media about the news of the recovery of a headless body of a woman.
Based on the apparel and other identification marks like tattoos etc. on the victim's body, Suresh identified the victim as his mother Santi Shaw (64) who came to Kamakhya on the occasion of Ambubachi Mela.
Apart from the identification of the deceased, no further clues or pieces of evidence could be gathered during the investigation, and the case remained open until the accused persons involved in the crime were identified.
Occurrence Of The Murder
On the night of June 18 and 19, 2019, a few days before the Ambubachi Mela, a Kapali/Kaal Bhairav/Shaanti puja was held in Bhootnath where around 12 persons participated and the victim was also present.
This puja was sponsored by an individual identified as Pradeep Pathak, a resident of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. He had paid a total of ₹10,000 each to everyone involved in the puja.
The puja was held in memory of Pradeep Pathak's younger brother, a Naga sadhu who died 11 years ago on June 18, 2008.
Pradeep Pathak, also known as Dinesh, was accompanied by another Sadhu who is yet to be identified and apprehended.
They had planned to perform a human sacrifice before the goddess Kamakhya and had purchased a machete in preparation for the same.
The venue where the sacrifice would take place was also planned.
The victim, along with one Sadhu and two other women from West Bengal, travelled to Guwahati to experience the Ambubachi Mela.
Pradeep Pathak and the Sadhu he was accompanied by made contact with the Sadhu from West Bengal and planned to carry out the human sacrifice, deciding on the victim lady as the sacrifice.
As a result, the group first performed Kapali Puja at Bhootnath, where everyone consumed alcohol.
The victim was forced to drink more to become completely drunk. At Bhootnath, the victim was dressed in a Saffron saree.
After finishing the puja at Bhootnath, the entire group left for Kamakhya, first visiting the cremation ground and performing another Puja.
They then went to Kamakhya's Joy Durga Mandir and performed another puja there.
They had also consumed alcohol, and everyone was in an inebriated state. The victim was forced to change her saree and was wrapped in a white saree during Puja at Joy Durga Mandir.
The accused then spread a blanket on the steps of Joy Durga mandir and forced the victim, who was also drunk, to lie down, while a few of them held her head, hands, and legs and then beheaded her with a machete to please the goddess Kamakhya.
They took the victim's head in a bag and disposed of it in the Brahmaputra river after committing the heinous crime.
How The Case Was Cracked
This case was recently reviewed and a Special Team was entrusted to carry out further investigation to identify the accused involved in the offence.
The Special Team analyzed technical evidence collected earlier and based on the clues gathered went to Cooch Behar, West Bengal and searched the house of one Kailash Barman, a resident of the Cooch Behar area of West Bengal on March 18, 2023.
The team could recover the victim’s mobile handset and belongings like clothes, ID proof (Aadhar card) etc.
On examination of Kailash Barman, it came to light that those belongings were left at their home in a bag by one Baba Ji, identified as Mata Prasad Pandey (50), a resident of the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh in June 2019.
As stated by Kailash Barman, Mata Prasad Pandey used to regularly visit their village during the month of June-July for 7-8 years.
In the year 2019, the said Babaji visited his house and left the belongings of the victim stating that the bag had his belongings which he would collect later.
Further investigation led to the arrest of Mata Prasad Pandey, aka, Mateswari Giri from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh on March 25, 2023.
On interrogation of Mata Prasad Pandey, it came to light that, on the night of June 18 and 19, 2019, a puja was held in Bhootnath which they named Kapali/Kaal Bhairav/Kali Puja where around 12 persons took part which included the victim too.
Pandey also confessed that during the puja at Joy Durga Mandir, the victim, who was in an inebriated state, was beheaded with a machete in the name of human sacrifice conducted to please the goddess Kamakhya.
Based on his statement and on corroborating that with other technical shreds of evidence, one Suresh Paswan (56 years), a resident of the Jalukbari area of Guwahati was arrested.
Further, Pradeep Pathak (52), was arrested from his residence on April 1, 2023.
Another two persons, namely Kanu Acharjee aka Kanu Tantrik (62), a resident of the Fatasil Ambari area in Guwahati and Bhaiyaram Maoriya aka Raju Baba (60), a resident of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (presently living in Bhootnath) were also arrested based on the statements of the already arrested accused.
Further investigation is ongoing to identify and arrest the other accused persons involved in the heinous crime.
(All events as described in the police report issued by the Jalukbari Police)