Dead girl’s head missing from grave in TN, family suspects witchcraft

Chennai: In an unusual case, the head of a 12-year-old deceased girl was severed and removed from her grave in Chengalpattu, near Chennai, raising concerns about possible witchcraft involvement. The incident, coming as it does against the backdrop of the recent case of the human sacrifice of two women in Kerala as part of black magic, is being probed by the police.

According to police, Krithika, who was studying in class 6 in a school, died on October 15, nearly 10 days after a dilapidated electric lamp post fell on her head while she was playing outside her house. Her family had buried her body at a burial ground in Chengalpattu.

However, on Wednesday morning, when her family members headed to the burial ground to perform the 13th-day rituals, they were taken aback on finding that her head had been severed from the body and was missing.

Lodged police complaint

The family members rushed to the Sithamur Police Station and lodged a complaint, raising suspicions that their daughter’s body was decapitated as part of witchcraft.

"The family found some turmeric and cut and squeezed lemons at her grave. It appears someone performed some rituals there before digging up the grave. The police have sent her beheaded body to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital for a postmortem. The police are probing if some black magic was performed during the partial solar eclipse on Tuesday," a police officer said.