Seven persons have been booked for allegedly forcing a woman to consume powder made of human bones as part of a black magic ritual to conceive a child.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Suhail Sharma of Pune city Police told ANI: "Police have registered a case under sections 498 a, 323, 504, 506 of IPC along with section 3 of anti-superstition act (Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013) against seven persons."
According to reports, the woman filed a complaint against her husband, in-laws and the tantrik [occultist] at the Sigad police station on Wednesday. This, however, is not her first complaint against her in-laws, ANI reported. In the earlier complaint, the victim alleged that her in-laws had demanded dowry at the time of her marriage in 2019 which included gold and silver jewellery, and some cash.
The police said she was also forced to partake in another ritual in which she was taken to a waterfall and made to practice black magic. During these practices, her husband and in-laws would take instructions from a tantrik over the phone through video calls.
“We have started to search the particular crematorium where these practices took place,” Sharma told ANI.
