Woman arrested for beheading three-year-old nephew

Katmandu Post

May 24, 2012

Rautahat Police have arrested a 25-year-old woman in Samanpur VDC-8 for beheading her three-year-old nephew. According to police officials, Mahadevi Yadav has confessed to the crime. Mahadevi had sacrificed her nephew, Nitesh Kumar Yadav after her guru told her that her witchcraft skills would be complete after the sacrifice. Mahadevi informed the media that she had been learning witchcraft from Chhabilal Yadav for the past one month.

Mahadevi had beheaded her nephew after performing a puja. She then threw the boy's head into the Bagmati river and buried the torso in her room. Police have exhumed the body and has sent it to Gaur for postmortem. According to police officials, Chhabilal had also demanded that Mahadevi sacrifice her eldest son as well. The victim had been staying at his maternal uncle's house for the past one month. Police became suspicious of Yadav after she registered a complaint with the police.

Chhabilal and Yadav's family are at large. Women rights activists and local residents were shocked by the news. Many women have been tortured and killed in the region for allegedly practicing witchcraft. According to local villagers, Mahadevi was normal and did not show any signs of mental illness or odd behavior.

Woman sacrifices child for witchcraft‚ arrested

The Himalayan Times

May 24, 2012

KATHMANDU: A 25-year-old woman on Saturday night has allegedly sacrificed a child to complete her witchcraft at a time when the incidents of torture against women for practicing witchcraft are on the rise.

Mahadevi Yadav, resident of Samanpur VDC-8, Rautahat sacrificed her three-year-old nephew Nitesh Kumar Yadav at the behest of her guru Chhabilal Yadav of Haraiya last night, District Police, Rautahat said.

The victim Nitesh Kumar Yadav had been staying at his maternal uncle's house for the last one month.

According to SP Thule Rai, Mahadevi had lodged a complaint saying that the boy had gone missing and after a few days she informed the police that she found the boy’s body.

After interrogating her over her suspicious information, the woman confessed to the crime, revealing that she beheaded the body at the altar after offering puja and threw the head into the Bagmati river while the torso was buried in the puja room, Rai informed.

Chhabilal and Yadav’s family members are at large while killer Mahadevi is in the police custody.

Police are conducting a manhunt for the culprit and investigating into the incident.

Woman, 25, arrested for chopping off the head of her three-year-old nephew on the orders of a witchcraft guru

By Leon Watson - DailyNews.co.uk

May 24, 2012

A trainee witch has admitted beheading her three-year-old nephew on the orders of a dark arts teacher in Nepal.

The 25-year-old was allegedly told her skills would only be complete after sacrificing her nephew and eldest son.

Police in Nepal arrested the suspect in the town of Samanpur, south of the country's capital Kathmandu and charged her with 'sacrificing' a child.

Officers said Mahadevi Yadav beheaded Nitesh Kumar Yadav, at midnight on Saturday. Police said Yadav has confessed to the crime.

The New York Daily News reported today that Yadav sacrificed the boy following instructions from her guru with whom she had been learning witchcraft.

She was quoted as saying: 'I had been learning witchcraft from Chhabilal Yadav of Haraiya for the past month. He told me that my witchcraft skills would be complete only after the sacrifice of the nephew.

'Accordingly I took him at Bramhsthan and beheaded him on Saturday after a pooja.'

Yadav then threw the boy's head into the Bagmati river while she buried the torso in her 'pooja' room, the New York Daily News said.

Police have exhumed the body and taken it to Gaur near the border with India for a post mortem.

According to Yadav, Chhabilal further demanded that she sacrifice her eldest son as well.

The victim, a resident of Manpur, had been staying in his maternal uncle's house for the past month.

Police became suspicious of Yadav's 'activities' after she informed them that she found the boy's body.

Earlier, she had registered a complaint with the police saying that the boy had gone missing.

SP Thule Rai told the press that Chhabilal and Yadav's family members are at large. Villagers said Mahadevi was a normal woman and that she did not have a history of mental illness that they knew of.

The incident has left the local people and rights activists shell-shocked.

'We are shocked to hear the news at a time when incidents of torture against women for allegedly practicing witchcraft are on the rise in the region,' said rights activists Bipin Gautam.

An Indian couple was arrested last month for attempting to bury her child alive on the orders of a guru.

Mahadevi Yadav

Mahadevi Yadav