Pix by Sanjeev Sameer
Vijay Deo Jha
Ranchi
Like any other child Aman wanted to read in a good school and had thrown his hands around his father Iswari Saw to lodge him to a good hostel; the day he went missing.
The body of six years old Aman was recovered four days later on last Wednesday; badly mutilated — trounced head, ears and tongue chopped and eyes gorged out — just 100 meter away from his paternal house at village Purnadih under Markaccho PO in Koderma district.
Police arrested eight suspects, later on, but his kidnapping and subsequent killing — family members suspected — matched with the script of Hindi movie Sangharsh (1999) where an exorcist kidnaps children for sacrifice to please Goddess Kali to gain black magic.
Police arrested Sitaram Pandit and his wife Indira Devi the lady who allegedly practises witchcraft. Two daughters of the espouses named as santoshi and Sarita Devi and some other relatives and close of Pandit family including Bhagirath Pandit and Vijay Pandit for allegedly hatching plot to kill the boy.
“Two accused Nayan Turia and Ram Pandit whose involvement in this case is suspected are yet to be arrested. They will be arrested within a couple of days. We are conducting raids. Police have booked them under section 366, 302 of IPC,” said SP Koderma, G. Kranti Kumar.
The police have also recorded the statement of an eye witness under section 164, one who claimed to have seen Pandits and their associates while dumping the body in a sack.
“He wanted to join hostel to study in a good school …My innocent son was killed by these people who practise witchcraft. I seek justice for my son,” the father of the son told the Pioneer.
Police remained silent over the reason behind the murder. “Nothing can be said right now. They have confessed having cold blooded killing of the boy. It is first case in Koderma alleged as the case of human sacrifice,” Kumar said.
Before this Saw family received a letter demanding Rs 90000 for the safe release of Aman. “They (unknown people) instructed me to drop the bag of money on a spot very close to me residence. They assured to inform me about where about of my son through another letter. I did the same. But nobody came to pick the money I instantly came to realise that I will not get my son back. I suspected the involvements of my some of my hidden enemies,” Saw said.
The police on the ground of suspicion had detained one Prakash Das. The police did not reveal whether interrogation of Das gave any clue or not but it recovered Aman’s body packed in a sack.
The police later on brought sniffer dog of the CID police for further investigation which led the police to the house of Sitaram Pandit.
Saw who runs stone crushing machine claimed that he had seen Sitaram Pandit and others moving with a stuffed sack. “They strongly suspect, now, that had packed the body of my son. Initially, I thought that they have been packing the used puja material after ten days of Durga Puja festival,” he said.
Bereaved over the death of her youngest son, it is tough for Sunita Devi to control her tears.
“No toy. No sweets. He never demanded anything from us except living in hostel. My son had not taken meal the day he went missing,” Sunita broke down. Aman is one of the baffling cases of missing children, whose body are later found dead.
