UP man beheaded by occultists hoping to acquire ?50 crore using skull

Four people, suspected to be occult practitioners, were arrested on suspicions of allegedly beheading a 29-year-old man on the intervening night of June 21 and 22 in order to make a quick buck, police said on Saturday, adding they recovered the skull of the victim from a drain near the Majlis Park Metro Station in Delhi.

Police, upon finding a headless body on Loni-Bhopra Road on June 22, arrested two associates of the main accused but could not trace the accused or find the skull. Those arrested on Saturday were identified as prime suspect Vikas Parmatma, 24; Narendra, alias ND, 32; and brothers Pawan Kumar, 40, and Pankaj Kumar, 33, who are occult practitioners.

Deputy commissioner of police (Trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said the suspects believed that occult practices involving a human skull could help them acquire wealth amounting to ?50-60 crore. “The suspects targeted 29-year-old Raju Kumar Sah, originally from Motihari, Bihar, who worked at a local eatery near Kamla Market in Delhi. Sah, whose parents died 15 years ago, was lured with drinks and drugs over several days. On the night of June 21, Sah was taken to Parmatma’s rented room in Tahirpur, Delhi, where he was strangled and hung from a ceiling fan,” Patil said.

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Police said a probe revealed that Parmatma, an e-rickshaw driver came into contact with Narendra, a lift operator at GTB Hospital in Delhi, who introduced him to the occult practitioners, Pawan and Pankaj Kumar. According to the police, Pawan Kumar suggested that acquiring a human skull for rituals could bring immense wealth.

The ‘ritual’

Police said that after killing Sah, Parmatma took the body to Tila Morh in Ghaziabad, beheaded and handed over the skull to Narendra, who passed it on to the occult practitioners.

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After the arrest of two suspects in August, Pawan and Pankaj Kumar reportedly panicked and hid the skull in a drain near Majlis Park Metro Station by tying it to a stone, police said. Following their arrest on Saturday, the police recovered the skull.

DCP Patil said, “The suspects planned the murder to obtain a skull for occult rituals. The murder was meticulously planned, and the suspects acted with common intent to destroy evidence.”

The suspects have been booked for murder and destruction of evidence under relevant sections at the Tila Morh police station.