Around 25 lakh individuals go to Assam’s Kamakhya temple throughout the Ambubachi Mela yearly. Sixty-four-year-old Santi Shaw from West Bengal was certainly one of them in 2019. She had come to Kamakhya with a sadhu and two different girls in early June of that 12 months. She by no means returned dwelling, and the household by no means heard from her once more.

Cut to June 19, 2019: A headless physique, of a lady, wrapped in a blanket was discovered on the staircase of a temple on the Kamakhya premises. Local media flashed the information and the general public believed this was a case of human sacrifice. With no element obtainable and the sufferer’s id remaining unknown, the police downplayed the human sacrifice angle at the moment, and so did the temple authorities. Some context right here — again in 2013-2014, the severed head of a person was recovered close to a highway resulting in the Kamakhya temple. The native media had performed it up as a human sacrifice case. However, it later got here to mild that the person had been murdered over a monetary dispute and his head was disposed of at close to the temple to make it appear to be a human sacrifice case.

In the current case, the Jalukbari police registered a suo motu case and a hunt was launched to get better the severed head of the sufferer. The head might by no means be discovered and the investigation slowed down on account of lack of clues and route, till July when a person recognized the girl as his mom.

Suresh Shaw of Bengal’s Hoogly obtained to know via information reviews that the headless physique of a lady had been recovered on the Kamakhya temple. He recognized the physique by her garments and the tattoo on her physique. At this level, the case noticed some hope. But the police nonetheless couldn’t collect any details about the accused concerned, till a particular staff was constituted and one clue led to the opposite. 

Click here to know the way police cracked the case after 4 years

Identified In The Day, Killed At Night

The prime accused within the case is Pradeep Pathak, a resident of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. He allegedly ‘sponsored’ a particular puja within the identify of his brother who had change into a Naga Sadhu and died on June 18, 2008 — the day Santi Shaw was killed in 2019. He plotted the homicide along with his confederate, one other sadhu who’s but to be nabbed. According to the police, the duo had recognized the sufferer and deliberate the homicide together with the sadhu who got here with Santi Shaw. They bought a ‘dao’ — the weapon which was used to behead Santi — earlier within the day.

The Fateful Night

The particular staff of Assam Police had obtained maintain of 1 Kailash Barman of Cooch Behar, which led them to ‘Baba’ Mata Prasad Pandey. It was Pandey who spilled the beans in regards to the homicide at Kamakhya, in response to the police. Pandey mentioned a complete of 12 individuals had been concerned within the crime, and every of them was given Rs 10,000 by Pathak.

He informed the police that on the intervening evening of June 18 and 19, the group held three pujas. The first puja was held at Bhootnath — a cremation floor within the foothills of Neelachal Hills the place the Kamakhya temple is situated. Tantriks and sadhus are recognized to remain within the space and carry out pujas. When this puja was over at midnight on June 18, the group went to the cremation floor at Kamakya temple for an additional puja. The final puja was held on the Joy Durga Mandir.

By this time all of the accused had been drunk, and so they had made Santi additionally eat alcohol. In reality, they made her drink extra, maybe to make their job simpler, the police mentioned. By this time, Santi, who was sporting a saffron saree throughout the pujas, had been made to alter right into a white saree. A closely drunk Santi was made to lie down on a blanket, and among the accused held her fingers and legs and certainly one of them beheaded her, Pandey reportedly informed the police.

A Murder By A Distorted Mind, Says Kamakhya

Speaking to ABP Live, Bhupesh Sharma, Secretary, Kamakhya Temple, mentioned: “First, I want to say that the word sacrifice is not applicable to this case at all. This is a murder committed by a person with demented psychology. At Kamakhya, we worship the Goddess and we worship women of all ages. Even in our ‘shastras’, women were never sacrificed. Such people should not call themselves ‘tantriks’ at all when they don’t even know what our shastras say. Nobody should attribute the word ‘sacrifice’ to this case, it’s a murder.”

He added: “Human sacrifice is a thing of the past when people or not educated or aware enough. At Kamakhya, which worships the goddess Kamakhya as a mother, no woman can be treated like that — this woman was murdered.”

Bhootnath: Cremation Ground That Wears A Dreaded Look At Night

A cremation floor thronged by many throughout the day turns into a dreaded place at evening. A spot recognized to be inhabited by aghoris and tantriks, it’s often averted by most individuals at evening. It’s a spot the place Naga sadhus reportedly take shelter to practise black magic and carry out sure pujas discreetly. After the 2019 case made headlines, the police chased them away from the world and pushed them into hiding. 

Kamakhya authorities, nevertheless, mentioned the world has been developed now and is now not unsafe for individuals, although native media reviews say in any other case.

The discreet nature of this place and its aura might have been a motive why the accused selected this place to homicide Santi Shaw.

Violence Can’t Remove Violence

As the case created a stir throughout the nation and headlines flashed even on worldwide dailies, former Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia informed ABP Live that “violence cannot remove violence”.

Asked in regards to the specific case, the cop recognized for his position in neighborhood growth and neighborhood policing and likewise his efforts in the direction of eradication of social evils similar to witchcraft mentioned: “It’s a cold-blooded murder, and it does not happen just in Assam. It’s important to understand the psychology behind such murder and get inside the head of the criminal to be able to prevent such cases from happening in the future.”

Saikia, along with his pet challenge Prahari had focused such points in villages and succeeded in making a number of villages freed from such practices with neighborhood participation, consciousness, and putting in medical camps. His work has additionally been documented within the three-part case sequence printed by Harvard Business Review titled: Being a Change Agent. 

Understanding The Mind Of The Criminal

As former Assam DGP Saikia identified, common interrogation can’t be performed in such crimes as within the head of the felony they aren’t unsuitable. He mentioned “interrogation in such cases must be done in bits and pieces” to grasp the thoughts of the felony, and that the “legal machinery should be tuned to the need of the time”.

While Pandey and Pathak had been arrested from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, the three others — Suresh Paswan, Kanu Acharjee alias Kanu Tantrik and Bhaiyaram Maoreya alias Raju Baba — had been picked up from Bhootnath.

The police have additionally recovered the garments and railway tickets of the sufferer lady and seized the cell phones of all 5 accused. A hunt is on to arrest the remaining accused within the case.