Husband Attempts To Offer Wife As Human Sacrifice For Hidden Treasure: Police

A 40-year-old man in India's Maharashtra state was arrested along with two others after he allegedly attempted to kill his wife for human sacrifice in order to get some treasure, police said Sunday.

The man, identified as Santosh Pimple, brought a local spiritualist to his home in Mauje Dongaon village Wednesday night to perform rituals because he wanted to find hidden treasure, India Today reported, citing police inspector Ravindra Thakre.

The next day, Pimple told his wife, identified only as Seema, that he was going to offer her as human sacrifice in order to find the treasure, according to police.

"[Pimple] started performing some rituals on her, but when she opposed, he thrashed her," Thakre was quoted as saying by the outlet

The wife later revealed the incident to some of her fellow villagers, who, along with her father, reported it to police.

Prior to the alleged incident, Pimple, who had a habit of drinking, used to spend most of his time around the crematoriums in the village and tell his wife that he would soon find some hidden treasure, the police inspector said.

Pimple, the unnamed spiritualist and a man identified as Jeevan Pimple were later arrested after Seema filed a complaint against her husband.

The spiritualist was from the Deualgoan Raja community in Buldhana district, while Jeevan was also a resident of Mauje Dongaon village. It was unclear whether or not Santosh and Jeevan were related.

A case was registered against the three under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act and some sections of the Indian Penal Code, Thakre said.

A similar incident happened in late 2020 in the state of Assam when two brothers were detained after locals suspected them of attempting to sacrifice their own children in search of a hidden treasure.

Residents of Dimowmukh village informed police of the two siblings Jamiur Hussain and Sariful Hussain, whom they suspected of trying to sacrifice their own children on the advice of a quack, locally known as Bez, cops said.

"Locals said that a person identified as Bez from Sonari, about 45 kilometers from Sivasagar, had told the brothers that they will find gold hidden under a mango tree that's in their house if they sacrificed their children," a police official from Sivasagar stated.

Village residents became suspicious after they found six children — three from each brother — kept in confinement. They then handed over the two brothers, their wives and the children to the Sivasagar Sadar Police Station.

The family, however, had denied the allegations and claimed they had previously sought Bez's counsel on how to improve their child's deteriorating health.