Dilip Rathia
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- India
- Location
- Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India
- Date of birth
- 1980
- Age at first offence
- 32
- Characteristics
- beheading
- Victim profile
- 11-year-old boy named Praveen
- Method of murder
- Beheading
- Date(s) of murder
- February 2012
- Years active
- 2012
- Date of arrest
- —
- Status
-
Sentenced to death
Sentenced to death on April 15, 2013
Background
Dilip Rathia was a 32-year-old man who was described as a “witch doctor” and was said to have practised witchcraft.
The offence
Dilip Rathia beheaded an 11-year-old boy and offered the head as a sacrifice to a goddess to improve his fortunes. The prosecution stated that he beheaded the boy in February 2012 and offered his head to a goddess so that he could become lucky.
Investigation
Police found the child’s headless skeleton in the tribal-dominated village of Barpali in Raigarh district. Forensic tests proved the skeleton was that of an 11-year-old boy named Praveen, who disappeared in February 2012 while visiting a village fair.
Investigating officer Praful Thakur said:
“We proved the man beheaded the boy and his head was offered to the local goddess to obtain better luck,”
Police acted on a tip-off and raided the home of a man said by locals to be a “witch doctor”. Police found the child’s head at his home.
Local police official Rahul Bhagat said:
“practising witchcraft” and “was convicted on charges of murder, hiding evidence and giving false information to conceal the offence”,
Trial
A local court in Chhattisgarh state in central India convicted Dilip Rathia on Monday of murder and sentenced him to hang. Raigarh’s additional district and sessions judge Ashok Kumar Sahu convicted the accused Dilip Rathia (32) on charges of murder of a boy identified as Praveen and sentenced him to death.
The court also convicted him for destruction of evidence and giving false information to conceal the crime.
Sentencing
Dilip Rathia was sentenced to death on April 15, 2013.
Outcome
The conviction and death sentence were imposed by a trial court in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh state.
Other details
The case was described as highlighting the persistence of occult beliefs in remote areas. Human sacrifices in India usually occur in poorer areas where some people fear and revere practitioners of so-called black magic, and victims are ritually killed by witch doctors to please or appease deities. The reported existence of other widely publicised suspected child sacrifice cases in Chhattisgarh and the decapitated body of a factory worker found in a temple in West Bengal were mentioned.
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