13-year-old girl killed in sacrifice in Jharkhand: Mother, tantrik, one other nabbed; NCW forms panel to probe

Police have arrested the 35-year-old mother of a teenage girl who was strangled in a sacrificial ritual in Kusumbha village, along with an occult practitioner and a man, an officer said.

Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police Anjani Anjan and Hazaribag DIG Anjani Jha announced the arrests in a late-night press conference on Wednesday (April 1, 2026).

The police said they had arrested Reshmi Devi, the mother of the girl, 55-year-old Shanti Devi, an occultist, and 40-year-old Bhim Ram, all of them from the same village.

The National Commission for Women constituted a three-member inquiry committee to probe the alleged murder.

The committee, which was formed on Wednesday (April 1, 2026), will visit the spot on Thursday (April 2, 2026) and interact with the authorities concerned.

Anjani Anjan said Reshmi Devi often visited a ‘tantrik’ (occult practitioner) in her village for the treatment of her youngest son, who suffers from some mental and physical sickness.

“The occult practitioner told the mother that they needed to sacrifice a virgin girl to cure the son of all ailments,” he said.

The officer said that on March 24, the night of Ashtami, when the entire village was immersed in festive celebrations and was seeing the Mangla Julus (a Ram Navami procession), the girl was strangled at the house of Shanti Devi, allegedly by her own mother and Bhim Ram.

They, after killing the girl, buried her body in a garden.

The inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report to the National Commission for Women (NCW) within 10 working days.

Ms. Anjan said that the three tried to mislead the investigators by claiming rape, which was not proved in the postmortem and forensic report.

Bhim Ram also faces allegations of murdering his sister-in-law and another individual, Ms. Anjan added.

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday (March 30, 2026) took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of the girl in Bishnugarh in Hazaribagh and served a notice to the state administration and the director general of police.

A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad took note of the incident based on media reports.

Earlier, the girl’s mother alleged that her daughter was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 in a field in the village.

The opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribagh on Monday (March 30, 2026) to protest against the killing.