'Sanatan inserted needles into 3-yr-old's body to attain moksha'

Prime accused of Purulia murder case has confessed during investigation that to attain moksha and attain magical powers he used to carry out occult practices.

He had inserted needles in the body of the three-year-old girl to ensure her slow death considering that it will help him attain moksha.

Sources said that Sanatan Thakur confessed that he himself had inserted the needles into the body of the girl.

Police said it was a pre-planned murder as he had purposely inserted the needles into the girl's body knowing that it would lead to her death.

Sanatan, who was found singing songs one after the other after getting arrested from Uttar Pradesh, told the police that he used to carry out occult practices and for which he had decided to sacrifice the girl.

He had managed to win the confidence of the girl's mother Mongala and she was also involved in the crime.

She was well aware of Sanatan's occult practices and she had not protested or stopped him from inserting needles into her daughter's body.

Sanatan had earlier claimed that he had married the victim's mother. So he was not willing to keep the girl alive which is another reason behind killing the three-year-old girl.

Police came to know from Sanatan that Mongola had helped him carry out his occult practices and used to keep watch whether anyone was coming to their house when Sanatan used to insert needles into the girl's body. Even she had objected when their neighbours had decided to take the girl to hospital.

It may be mentioned that in a bid to distract the investigating officers, Sanatan had initially claimed that it was his daughters-in-law who were behind the murder of the girl.

He had claimed that his daughters-in-law had killed the girl as they were jealous of her after Sanatan gave shelter to the girl and her mother in his house.

The police had also probed this part of the case. But the officers didn't find any relevance in such claims.

The prime accused's daughters-in-law had brushed aside all allegations raised against them saying that why did Sanatan flee if he was innocent.

The committee that was constituted of senior district officials placed its report in connection with the incident.

It also found Mongala a part of the crime as she did not stop Sanatan from torturing her three-year-old daughter.