New Delhi — An Indian couple has allegedly died by suicide by utilizing a guillotine-like mechanism to decapitate themselves in a sacrificial ritual, police mentioned Sunday.

Hemubhai Makwana, 38, and his spouse Hansaben, 35, each died by decapitation after utilizing a do-it-yourself bladed mechanism in a hut on their farm within the western state of Gujarat, police mentioned.

“The couple first prepared a fire altar before putting their heads under a guillotine-like mechanism held by a rope,” Indrajeetsinh Jadeja, a police sub-inspector, was quoted as saying by Indian information retailers. “As soon as they released the rope, an iron blade fell on them, severing their heads, which rolled into the fire.”

Fire is taken into account sacred in Hinduism and it performs a major function in a number of worship rituals. The couple apparently designed the gadget used of their beheading in such a manner that their heads would roll into the fireplace altar, finishing their sacrificial ritual.

Police, who mentioned they’d discovered a suicide notice addressed to relations, have launched an investigation. The couple is survived by two kids and their mother and father. 

The incident passed off someday between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, when police have been alerted.

Family members reportedly advised police that the pair had provided prayers within the hut day-after-day for the final yr.

Ritual human sacrifices usually are not unknown in India, the place official knowledge present there have been greater than 100 reported instances between 2014 and 2021. But nearly all identified instances of human sacrifice contain individuals killing others to please gods, reasonably than themselves.

Earlier this month, Indian police arrested five men for murdering a girl in 2019 inside a Hindu temple in Guwahati, in what they mentioned was a case of formality human sacrifice.