What might happen when sadhus, superstition and blind faith converge near a revered place of worship — all of which have cast a spell on the so-called New India?

A grisly tale of human sacrifice that took place four years ago has come to light now in Assam, near the Kamakhya temple, one of the holiest in India.

The victim was a 64-year-old woman from Bengal’s Hooghly district.

Five persons have been arrested in the case that has been cracked after four years. The accused include a sadhu from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and a government official from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Guwahati commissioner of police Diganta Borah told a media interaction here on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Borah, a beheaded body was found on the steps leading to the Joy Durga temple at Kamakhya here on June 19, 2019. The incident took place on the intervening night of June 18 and 19. The head was missing.

The Joy Durga temple is one of the several temples located on the Nilachal Hills apart from the renowned Maa Kamakhya temple.

A suo motu case was registered with the Jalukbari police station here under IPC sections for murder, criminal conspiracy and disappearance of evidence.

On July 28, 2019, one Suresh Shaw visited the Jalukbari police station after coming to know from media reports about the recovery of the headless body from the Kamakhya area. Suresh’s mother was also visiting Kamakhya to take part in the Ambubachi Mela, usually held between June 22 and June 26 every year.

Suresh identified the deceased as his mother, Santi Shaw, based on the dress and identification marks. Santi hailed from Tatipara in Hooghly district.

Apart from the identification of the deceased, there was no headway in the case.

The breakthrough was achieved following the review of the case recently.

A special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to carry out further investigations, Borah said, adding that important “unsolved heinous crimes” were reviewed.

Based on technical evidence collected earlier and on the clues gathered later, the SIT first went to Bengal’s Cooch Behar district and searched the house of one Kailash Barman from Bara Gadaikhora on March 18, 2023, where the victim’s mobile handset and belongings like clothes, Aadhaar card and train tickets were found.

Barman told the sleuths that the recovered items were left at his home in a bag in June 2019 by a sadhu, Mata Prasad Pandey, 50, from Mal Cachar in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Pandey used to visit their village during June-July for the past seven-eight years.

The special team then left for Jabalpur and arrested Pandey on March 25.

During the interrogation, Pandey revealed that on the intervening night of June 18 and 19, 2019, a puja took place at Bhootnath (crematorium ground) here in which around 12 persons took part, including the victim.

After offering the puja at Bhootnath, they went to the Kamakhya cremation ground around midnight and then to the Joy Durga Mandir to perform another puja.

They consumed alcohol at Bhootnath and again at the Durga Mandir. During the puja at Joy Durga Mandir, they spread a blanket on the ground and made the victim lie down.

A few of them held her head, hands and legs and then beheaded her with a dao (machete) in the name of human sacrifice to please Kamakhya Maa, Pandey told his interrogators.

On the basis of Pandey’s statement, one Suresh Paswan, 56, was arrested from Jalukbari. On April 1, Pradeep Pathak, 52, from Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district was arrested from his residence.

Pradeep is an executive officer with the government cooperative societies department in Uttar Pradesh. His arrest was followed by the arrest of Kanu Acharjee, 62, from Fatasil Ambari here, and Bhaiyaram Maoriya alias Raju Baba, 60, who is originally from Uttar Pradesh but currently living in Bhootnath.

Interrogation of the accused has revealed that the puja was sponsored by Pradeep. The puja was held in memory of his deceased younger brother, who was a Naga sadhu and had passed away on the same day (18.6.2008) eleven years ago.

Pradeep was accompanied by another sadhu, who is yet to be identified. They had planned to carry out the human sacrifice before Maa Kamakhya. They purchased a dao earlier in the day of the sacrifice from Fancy Bazar here and chose the place where the sacrifice would be carried out, the police said.

The victim, Santi, had come to attend the Ambubachi Mela along with a sadhu and two other women from Bengal.

Pathak, along with the sadhu he was accompanying, came into contact with the sadhu from Bengal and planned to carry out the human sacrifice and decided upon the victim (Santi) to be sacrificed, the police said.

The victim was wearing a saffron sari at Bhootnath but was made to wear a white sari at the Joy Durga temple. After beheading her, they took the head of the victim in a bag and disposed it of in the Brahmaputra river which flows along the city.

“The victim was unaware of the fate that awaited her. Further investigation is on to identify the other accused involved in the heinous crime and to arrest them. It is a human sacrifice to please Maa Kamakhya. Pathak is highly superstitious. Around 60-70 per cent of his contact numbers belonged to tantriks,” police commissioner Borah said.