KOLATA, India, April 19 (UPI) -- A decapitated man found at a temple may be the second case of human sacrifice in India within a week, police said.
The man's severed head and naked torso were found in the state of West Bengal at a temple dedicated to Kali, a HIndu goddess of time and change often portrayed as bloodthirsty.
"The severed head was smeared with red vermilion. Flowers, mainly marigolds, and incense sticks were scattered beside the body," police spokesman Rabindranath Mukherjee told The Times of London in a story published Monday.
Last week, a 3-year-old boy kidnapped in the state of Uttar Pradesh was found with his throat cut and his forehead smeared with vermilion, police said. A second child, in the same district, was killed two months earlier by people who believe in black magic, officials alleged.
Such crimes mostly persist in poor areas of India where some followers of Kali believe human sacrifice will be rewarded with blessings of fertility, health and wealth, authorities said.
